Videos

638 short videos on instructional leadership, school discipline, grading, and more.

Browse FAQs by Topic

Attendance & Chronic Absenteeism FAQ

17 questions answered

Cell Phones in Schools FAQ

26 questions answered

Classroom Walkthroughs, Teacher Evaluation & Feedback FAQ

32 questions answered

Curriculum, Standards & Pacing FAQ

38 questions answered

EdTech, AI & Technology in Schools FAQ

19 questions answered

Education Reform & Bad Ideas FAQ

32 questions answered

Education Research & Evidence-Based Practice FAQ

25 questions answered

Equity in Education FAQ

30 questions answered

Grading, Assessment & Grade Inflation FAQ

37 questions answered

Intervention, RTI & Classroom Management FAQ

28 questions answered

Literacy, Phonics & the Science of Reading FAQ

27 questions answered

Mental Health, SEL & Student Wellbeing in Schools FAQ

24 questions answered

Parents, Families & School Communication FAQ

26 questions answered

Professional Development for Educators FAQ

23 questions answered

Restorative Justice in Schools FAQ

25 questions answered

School Culture & Climate FAQ

23 questions answered

School Finance, Budgets & Resource Allocation FAQ

22 questions answered

School Law, Liability & Legal Issues FAQ

22 questions answered

School Leadership & the Principal Role FAQ

37 questions answered

School Safety & Violence Prevention FAQ

30 questions answered

Special Education, IEPs & Inclusion FAQ

27 questions answered

Student Discipline & Consequences FAQ

58 questions answered

Suspension & Exclusionary Discipline FAQ

25 questions answered

Teacher Retention, Workload & Professional Boundaries FAQ

36 questions answered

The School Administrator Job Search FAQ

22 questions answered

Discipline (178) School Policy (161) School Leadership (104) Instructional Leadership (94) Accountability (83) Student Behavior (73) School Safety (71) Curriculum (64) Education Reform (46) Equity (43) Grading (37) Teacher Workload (37) Teacher Retention (37) Workplace Culture (36) Career Development (35) Standards (35) Special Education (32) Assessment (32) Professional Development (30) Research (30) Classroom Management (27) Suspension (26) Parent Communication (26) Literacy (25) Cell Phones (25) School Finance (24) Mental Health (23) School Law (22) Job Search (22) Classroom Walkthroughs (22) Teacher Evaluation (21) Student Development (21) Edtech (18) Announcements (18) Humor (18) Restorative Justice (18) Science Of Reading (17) Teacher Appreciation (17) Evidence Based Practice (17) Attendance (13) Feedback (11) Professional Boundaries (11) Intervention (11) Inclusion (10) Iep (10) Grade Inflation (10) Teacher Safety (10) School Culture (10) School Choice (9) District Leadership (9) Math Education (7) College Readiness (6) Interviewing (6) Extracurriculars (6) Off Topic (5) School Stories (5) Ai In Education (5) Critical Thinking (5) Hiring (5) Books (5) International Education (5) Bullying (4) Podcast (3) Teacher Autonomy (3) Rti (3) Accommodations (3) Teacher Unions (2) Social Emotional Learning (2) Autism (1) Administrator Liability (1) Health (1) Misinformation (1) Content Analysis (1) Low Tech (1) Teaching Tips (1) Lesson Planning (1) Animals On Campus (1) Teacher Leadership (1) Child Safety (1) Mandatory Reporting (1) School Governance (1) Media Literacy (1) Social Media (1) Tribute (1) Phonics (1) Nature (1)

Discipline

School Policy

1/3 of Teachers in Scotland Report Being Physically Assaulted at Work 100% Full Inclusion Is Not a Decision That Should Be Made Outside the IEP Team A Gut Check for Innovative-Sounding Ideas: Would I Tolerate This for My Kids?A School Is Basically a Set of Rules Intended to Result in Learning Adult Convenience Is No Excuse for Embarrassing Students Advanced Coursework Is Good, But Old-Fashioned Tracking Is Not Age-Based Grade Levels Are More Important Than People Think Anti-Suspension NIMBYism: These Policies Are Only Good Enough for Other People's Kids Are Bad Policies Part of an Intentional Effort to Destroy Public Education?Are Consequences Punitive?Are Schools Too Controlling?Are Teachers Being Asked to Write More Recommendation Letters Than Ever?Are You Seeing Behavioral and Mental Health Scope Creep in Schools?Asking People for Their Jeans Pass at the Airport Away for the Day Is the Best Phone Policy for Schools BYOD: Bring Your Own Distraction Band Director Tased Over a Postgame Performance — There Are Lots of Layers to This One Blame the Teacher When Students Cut Class?Boundaries Aren't Based on Good Intentions — They Exist Because We Need Them Bring Back Detention — Little Consequences Make a Big Difference California Keeps Trying to Achieve Equity by Cheating Can Teachers Be Required to Have 'Authentic Relationships' with Students?Can We Do Away with Suspension?Cell Phone Bans Need Admin Backup — It's Worth It Changing Jobs Is Good for the Profession — It Needs to Be Easier Chesterton's Fence: Don't Get Rid of Something If You Don't Know Why It's There Conflating Disabilities with Parent Preferences About How Schools Should Run Is Dangerous Different Consequences for the Same Behavior? Here's Why That Can Backfire Discipline Consequences Every School Should Have Discipline Consequences: Mega Q&A Do Teachers Need More PTO?Do We Really Need Every School Sport to Be Year-Round?Does Accepting Late Work Set Students Up for Failure — Or Give Them a Chance to Succeed?Does Not Accepting Late Work Make Students Give Up?Don't Blame Teachers If Nobody Is Making Kids Go to Class Don't Shut Down the Gifted Program — Open It Up Evidence vs. Ideology: Can We Break the School-to-Prison Pipeline Without Consequences?Fake Equity — or 'Cosmequity' — Is Just PR, Not Real Improvement Firing a Teacher for Using Sick Leave to Attend a Concert Is a Huge Overreaction Graduation Ceremonies Before Senior Year Are Out of Control Guilt Doesn't Lead to Good Policies Guilt-Driven Grading Policies May Ease Our Guilt — But Are They Better for Students?Here's How We Can Tell If Restorative Practice Actually Has Potential — Or Is Just a Gimmick Here's Why PBIS Can't Work Without Progressive Discipline and Consequences Here's Why Restorative Practices Don't Work for School Discipline Here's Why Teachers Call in Sick When They're Not Sick Holding Schools Accountable for Discipline Stats Doesn't Work How Campbell's Law Explains What's Going on with School Discipline How Did Rewards Ruin PBIS?How Much Suffering Should We Aim for in School Discipline?How School Teaches Students Not to Procrastinate How Strict Is Too Strict?How to Implement Discipline Reform in 6 Easy Steps (Satire)I Spoke with CBS News in Boston About Progressive Discipline in Schools I Think We Can Do Better Than School Lunch If Jeans Are OK with a Jeans Pass, Teachers Should Be Able to Wear Them All the Time If We Don't Prosecute Truancy, Education Won't Be Truly Compulsory If We Don't Self-Police, Lawmakers Will Force Clumsy Legislation on Schools Illiteracy Is a Policy Choice Important New Publication from the US Department of Ed on School Discipline Is Academic Tracking a Bad Thing?Is It Even Possible for Schools to Effectively Ban Cell Phones? Yes.Is It OK for Staff to Arrive and Leave When Students Do?Is To Kill a Mockingbird a Racist Book?Is the HISD Behavior Center Plan Destined to Fail?It's Time to Ban Cell Phones During the School Day It's Time to Go Back to Paper-and-Pencil Standardized Testing Jeans Passes Are Infantilizing Kids Don't Need to Listen to Music While They Work Kids Need Recess — Cutting It for More Learning Time Is Counterproductive Late Work Is a Logistical Nightmare — And It Undermines Learning Let Teachers Make Copies Let's Stop Rewarding Expected Behavior and Restore Accountability Let's Stop Weaponizing Good Things by Making Them Do Things They Can't Do Let's Translate Home-to-School Communications into the Languages Our Families Actually Speak Lunch Money Is Not Something Kids Should Ever Have to Worry About Meeting the Needs of the Whole Child Is Society's Job — Not Just Schools Merit Pay Cannot Work — Here Are Three Reasons Why More Schools Are Banning Phones — But They Won't Succeed Without Enforcement New Brunswick's Premier Says Full Inclusion Isn't Working New Zealand's Student Cell Phone Ban Takes Full Effect Today No Coffee in Front of Students? That's Taking 'Modeling' Too Far No Sending Kids to the Office at All? That's a Problem Open-Concept Schools with No Walls? We Tried That in the 1970s — It Didn't Work Opposing Overhyped Fads Is Not the Same as Being Politically Conservative Oppressor-Oppressed Dichotomous Thinking Is Destructive in Education Parents Are Not Entitled to Non-Stop Text Access to Their Child During School Parents Do NOT Need to Text Their Kids During the School Day People Who Fake Disabilities Don't Have to Live with Them Policymakers Who Think Schools Don't Need Suspension for Violence Have Never Worked in a School Predictability and Consistency Are Critical in School Discipline Preventing Bad Behavior Might Actually Be the Wrong Goal Principals Need Latitude on Discipline — Not Micromanagement from Activists Punished by PBIS Rewards Punitive Discipline Works — It Does What It's Intended to Do RTI for Behavior Shouldn't Mean Students Can't Get in Trouble Until After Extensive Intervention Restoration Rooms Work for an Obvious Reason — Dedicated Staff Time Restorative Justice Has No Place in Schools School Discipline Is Simple — But Its Scope Is Very Limited School Lunch Has a Big Drawback: Kids Are Out of School for More Than Half the Year Schools Can't Be Consequence-Free Zones Schools Have No Business Regulating Students' Hair Schools Need to Get Out of the Behavior Business Scottish Educators Are in Denial That Some Schools Have No Consequences — So Let's Name Names Should All Teachers Write the Objective on the Board?Should Schools Pay Parents to Get Their Kids to School Every Day?Should Teachers Have to Follow Student Rules?Should We Accept Late Work Without Penalty?Should We Encourage Anxiety in Parents, Students, and Staff?Should We Have a Moratorium on Restorative Practices?Should We Provide Mental Health Support to Kids Who Don't Need It?Should a Student Get Suspended for Poking a Burger? Context Matters Should a Student Get a 50 or a Zero for a Missing Assignment?Sick Leave Is a Benefit, Not an Entitlement Some Kids Need Small Classes Tailored to Their Needs Some Students Simply Need Smaller Classes and Schools Sorry, But Makeup Work Doesn't Really Make Up for Missing School Special Education Is a Service, Not a Place — But Sometimes That Service Requires a Specific Place Specialized Programs Are Not Automatically Segregation State Legislatures Are Banning Things Schools Can't Run Without Students Do NOT Need Cell Phones to Do Their Schoolwork Supposedly Equitable Policies Turn Out Not to Be Good Enough for Advocates' Own Kids Sweeping Grading Changes Capture Frustration but Create New Problems Teacher Appreciation Starts at the Ballot Box Teachers Are Professionals — Enough with the Jeans Pass Nonsense Teachers Need 2-3x as Much Prep Time Teachers Need Paid Classroom Setup Time Teaching Expected Behavior Is Good — Rewarding It in the Name of PBIS Is a Terrible Idea The 'Why' Behind the Behavior Doesn't Matter — And Worrying About It Is Counterproductive The Best Student Cell Phone Policy: Off and Away The Function of School Discipline Is NOT Individual Behavior Change The Motte-and-Bailey Bait-and-Switch of Restorative Practices The Right Amount of Cell Phone Use During the School Day Is Zero The So-Called School-to-Prison Pipeline: Here's My Take on the Browne-Hoge Study The Worst Behaviors We're Seeing Are a Direct Result of No-Consequences Policies This Is Why We Don't Have Zero Tolerance — So Administrators Can Use Judgment Time to Do Your Job Is Not a Gift — It's a Basic Working Condition Too Many Mandatory Trainings — And They're the Same Every Year Travel Teams Are Bad for High School Sports — Time to Ban Them We Are Canceling School Too Much We Need to Stop Letting Students Destroy Classrooms We Should Be Able to Talk About Behavior in Both Technical and Plain Language Welcome to the Department of EDU-phemisms What About 'Reverse Suspension'? Parent and Child in a Conference Instead What Happens When Schools Rely on Behaviorism Without Consequences?What Is Progressive Discipline — And Why Is It Being Overlooked?What Is the Purpose of Education? To Teach Knowledge and Skills — Not Fix Everything Else What a Sadistic Card Game Taught Me About Teaching Behavior in Schools Why Ad Hoc, Unpredictable Consequences Are a Bad Idea Why Are We Giving Students Public Goals for Standardized Assessments?Why Consequences Need to Escalate Why Do We Always Take Things Way Too Far?Why Do We Hold Schools Accountable for Outcomes That Are Really Inputs?Why Do We Think About Everything BUT Consequences?Why Is 'Order' Such a Distasteful Idea in Education?Why Late Work Is a Problem for Learning Why Predictable Consequences Are So Important Why Predictable Consequences Matter for Both Perpetrators and Victims Why an 80 Should Be an A — And a Missing Assignment Should Be a True Zero You Can't Replace Behavior Policy with a 'Relationship Agreement Your Child Has Been Assigned to the Euphemism Room

School Leadership

A School Is a Professional Workplace, Not a Family — And It's a Red Flag If Someone Calls It One A Schoolwide RTI Intervention Block Doesn't Make a Lot of Sense A Staff Icebreaker Idea A Valentine's Gift Idea for Principals to Give Teachers Administrators Are Realizing How Grim It Is to Have Teachers Pay for Their Own Appreciation Gifts Administrators Shouldn't Make All the Decisions — We Don't Have the Bandwidth Administrators, Are We Making Too Much Noise?Adults Aren't Kids — Teachers Are Professionals Any New Idea Is Unlikely to Be Better Than the Status Quo Applying for Admin Jobs? Start Working on This Now Are Data Walls a Waste of Time?Are Faculty Icebreakers a Good Use of Time?Barbed Facts and Loaded Questions Are Just Passive Aggression Can We Demand Less of Teachers — And Actually Get Better Results?Cell Phone Bans Need Admin Backup — It's Worth It Central Office Admin Bloat Is a Real Problem Chesterton's Fence: Don't Get Rid of Something If You Don't Know Why It's There Climate Surveys Are a Crucial Data Source Complexity Makes Teaching Harder and Doesn't Save Money Districts Do Illegal Things All the Time — Don't Take Personal Responsibility for It Do We Really Need Separate Appreciation Days for Principals and Vice Principals?Do You Appreciate Little Gifts from Your Principal, or Do They Do More Harm Than Good?Do as I Say, Not as I Do' Never Works in Schools Every Year, Principals Tell Themselves: 'This Is the Year I'll Get into Classrooms Focus on Process Accountability, Not Outcome Accountability Go Slow to Go Fast: Stop Constantly Starting New Initiatives Good Classroom Management Isn't Enough — You Also Need Supportive Administration Groupthink Is Out of Control in Education Here's Where I'd Start to Make Brockton High School Safe Again High School Principal Lets Gen Z Students Write His Campus Tour Script How Administrators Can Learn Students' Names Quickly How Can We Get the Best Teachers Working with Our Highest-Need Students?How Do People Get Education Jobs with Unique Titles Like 'Director of Innovation'?How Much Teaching Experience Before Becoming a Principal?How Much Teaching Experience Should You Need Before Becoming an Administrator?How Should Teachers Be Judged If They Work in a Dysfunctional School?Humility and Curiosity Matter More Than Experience for Instructional Leaders Icebreakers Aren't Fun for Everyone — Here's Why If You Don't Want Teachers Sending Students to the Office, Make Sure They Have Other Tools Is Burnout a Systemic Issue?Is It Even Possible for Schools to Effectively Ban Cell Phones? Yes.Is It Weird to Want to Be a Principal from Day One of Teaching?Is Teaching Too Flat a Profession?Is Your Employer Entitled to Your Heart? Your Vulnerability?It's Worth Being Negative About Unforced Errors and Scope Creep Late Hiring in Hard-to-Fill Areas Leaders Seek Wisdom, Not Validation Let's Make Teaching a Job People Want to Do More Schools Are Banning Phones — But They Won't Succeed Without Enforcement Most Teachers Are Women — And Men Are Overrepresented in Administration Moving from AP to Principal — in NASSP's Principal Leadership Magazine New School Safety and Order Assessment Tool No Need to Brag About What You Do for Teacher Appreciation Week No Quitting Time = Wasted Time — Set a Deadline and Go Home Office-Managed vs. Classroom-Managed Behaviors Predictability and Consistency Are Critical in School Discipline Principals Are Buffering Staff from Excessive PD Mandates — Even If It Doesn't Seem Like It Principals Are in an Impossible Situation When It Comes to Fights Principals Need Latitude on Discipline — Not Micromanagement from Activists Principals Need Power to Keep People Safe Professional Respect Is the Most Important Form of Teacher Appreciation Safety and Learning: Two Priorities Above All Save Everyone's Time — Stop Collecting Lesson Plans School Counselors Matter School Culture Is About More Than Cheering People Up School Improvement Isn't About Doing as Many Initiatives as Possible Sending a Student Right Back to Class Is the Worst Thing You Can Do Should Candidates Teach a Demo Lesson? Here's My Take Should People Become Administrators Without Teaching First?Should Your Boss Say 'I Love You' — Or Is That Weird?Should a Student Get Suspended for Poking a Burger? Context Matters Sometimes It's Appropriate to Be Negative About Bad Practices Stop Expecting Teachers to Build the Airplane While Flying It Stop Giving Teachers Extra Work to Make Administrators Look Good Stop with All the Ultra-Specific Appreciation Days — Just Have One Staff Appreciation Week Teachers Are Adult Professionals, Not Children Teachers Need Ways to Advance Without Leaving the Classroom Teachers Quit Principals — Or Stay Because of Them Teachers: What Do You Need Your Colleagues to Be Held Accountable For?The #1 Quality Teachers Need in a Principal: Backbone The Best Student Cell Phone Policy: Off and Away The Cyclical Nature of the School Year Gives Us a Built-In Fresh Start The Main Job of Central Office Is to Be Competent, Not Innovative The Overconfident Guy in a Principal Interview The Status Quo Must Be Carefully Surpassed, Not Disrupted The Struggle Is Real There's a Big Difference Between Servant Leaders and Those Who Want to Be Served This Is Why We Don't Have Zero Tolerance — So Administrators Can Use Judgment Time Capsule Time!Trust Your Inbox — Get Into Classrooms Visit Every Classroom for National Walkthrough Day We Are Exactly 5 Years Away from 10/20/30 — How Is That Possible?We Must Be Willing to Do What's Unpleasant in the Short Term What Do You Think About Being Required to Read Professional Books?What If We Treated Everyone as If They Had a Union Backing Them Up?What Needs to Happen When a Student Gets Sent Out of Class When Mike Miles' Plan for HISD Fails, He'll Have No One to Blame but Himself Why Are Teacher Evaluations So Bad?Why Do We Act Like Data Is Magical?Why I Don't Waste Energy Complaining About Parents Why Is It So Important for Instructional Leaders to Get into Classrooms?Why Predictable Consequences Are So Important Why Try to Keep Teachers from Leaving When They Already Have Another Offer?Your Staff Is Not Your Class

Instructional Leadership

3 Reasons Traditional Feedback Fails A Lesson Plan Template Written for a Different Subject Is Usually a Waste of Time A Playground Redesign Is a Better School Project Than a Garden Administrators Shouldn't Make All the Decisions — We Don't Have the Bandwidth Administrators, Are We Making Too Much Noise?Announcing the EduLeadership Show Are Data Walls a Waste of Time?Autonomy Should Give You Freedom to Do Your Job — Not Freedom to Harm Others Charlotte Danielson's Best Book Is About Teacher Growth Through Professional Conversation Choice Menus Double the Workload for Teachers While Making Learning Less Likely Critical Thinking Is Domain-Specific and Can't Be Taught in the Abstract Danielson Was Never Intended to Be an Observation Tool Differentiated Instruction Isn't a Real Thing — It's Doing Multiple Jobs at Once Do as I Say, Not as I Do' Never Works in Schools Does Every Child Really Learn Differently? No — And That's a Good Thing Does Small Group Instruction Squander the Literacy Block?Don't Believe People When They Say 'Research Says Don't Ding Teachers for What You Don't See During a Brief Walkthrough Every Year, Principals Tell Themselves: 'This Is the Year I'll Get into Classrooms Expertise Comes from Domain Knowledge, Not Multiple Intelligences or Learning Styles Face-to-Face Feedback Is Vastly Superior to Written Feedback Feedback Usually Misses the Mark — Stop Playing Games and Have Real Conversations Go Slow to Go Fast: Stop Constantly Starting New Initiatives Gold Coins for Walkthroughs? No. Just No.Good Feedback Based on 5-10 Minutes of Observation? Only If It's a Conversation Group Work Is Usually a Waste of Time Here's Where Academic Gaps Come From How Do You Want Your Formal Observations to Go?How Much We Teach Matters More Than How We Teach How We Teach Gets Too Much Attention — How Much We Teach Doesn't Get Enough Howard Gardner's Debunked Theory of Multiple Intelligences Won't Die Humility and Curiosity Matter More Than Experience for Instructional Leaders I Tried That and It Didn't Work' — There's a Learning Curve to Any Teaching Practice In Defense of Curriculum — Don't Make Teachers Start from Scratch Is It Fair to Expect Teachers to Keep Improving Throughout Their Careers?Is Teach Like a Champion Authoritarian?Kids Should Read Whole Books in School, Not Just Excerpts Knowledge Deserves More Credit — Skills Instruction Is Overrated Knowledge Isn't Dirt in the Way of Deeper Learning — It's the Foundation Learning How to Learn Is No Substitute for Actual Knowledge Leave Me Alone but Judge Me Fairly — The Paradox of Teacher Evaluation Mastery Learning Sounds Great — But It Can Run Off the Rails Memorizing Is Learning Most Students Don't Need to Work at Their Own Pace — They Won't Do It My Book: Now We're Talking My New Book: Mapping Professional Practice Is Here New Article: NASSP Published My Latest on Classroom Walkthroughs No, Kids Aren't Learning 10x Faster with AI Not All Pacing Guides Are Good — But It's Crucial to Have Them Personalized Learning Isn't Automatically Better Published Curriculum Is Almost Always Better — So Why Are We Avoiding It?RTI Misconception: Tier 1 Instruction Won't Close Big Gaps from Previous Years Read-Alouds Are Already Perfect — They Don't Need Zany Sound Effects Rosenshine's Principles in Action Is a Book Every Educator Should Read Safety and Learning: Two Priorities Above All Save Everyone's Time — Stop Collecting Lesson Plans School Improvement Isn't About Doing as Many Initiatives as Possible Short Observations Provide Plenty of Evidence — But Context Matters Should All Teachers Write the Objective on the Board?Should Experienced Teachers Be Evaluated Differently Than New Teachers?Should We Abolish Walkthrough Forms?Stop Asking Teachers to Turn in Lesson Plans — Visit Classrooms Instead Stop Evaluating Teachers Based on Things They Don't Control Stop Giving Teachers Extra Work to Make Administrators Look Good Stop Making Teachers Turn in Lesson Plans Stop Telling Teachers to 'Build Relationships' — Say This Instead Students Have to Work Hard to Learn — Technology That Removes the Hard Work Is Lying Students Shouldn't Sit in Groups When They Aren't Working Collaboratively Teachers Actually Like PD — If It's Relevant to Their Subject Area Teachers Need 2-3x as Much Prep Time Teachers Need to Learn About the Science of Learning Teachers Should Be Evaluated on Professional Judgment, Not Just Outcomes Teaching Is Not Just One Job — It's Many Distinct Jobs There's a Point of Diminishing Returns to Cramming Content into a Course Trauma-Informed Opposition to Teach Like a Champion Reveals What Trauma Talk Really Is Trust Your Inbox — Get Into Classrooms Two Teachers Teaching the Same Class with Different Curriculum Are Doing Totally Different Jobs Visit Every Classroom for National Walkthrough Day Vygotsky Was Not a Constructivist in the Way We've Been Led to Believe Want to Know the 'Why' Behind a Teacher's Practice? Ask 'How' Instead We Need Curriculum Maps, Not Lesson Plans We're Losing More Learning Time by Sending Disruptive Students Right Back to Class What Do We Do When Students Don't Have Prerequisite Knowledge?What Does Autonomy Mean to You as a Professional?What If Feedback Was Just a Conversation?Why Administrators Give Teachers Such Bad Feedback Why Are Teacher Evaluations So Bad?Why Concept Maps Are Better Than Answering Questions Why Do Textbooks Get Such a Bad Rap?Why Every School Needs a Pacing Guide Why Is It So Important for Instructional Leaders to Get into Classrooms?Why Principals Need Realistic Pacing Guides Why Won't the Myth of Learning Styles Die?You Can't Evaluate Someone You've Never Observed

Accountability

12.5% of UCSD Students Need Remedial Math — And the University Had to Add an Even More Basic Level 50 Points as the Minimum Grade for No Work? That's Deception, Not Compassion A 50 and a 0 Are Both F's on the Report Card — But Very Different in the Gradebook A Missing Assignment Isn't Just Missing Paperwork — It's Missing Learning Are Kids Really Always Doing Their Best?Autonomy Should Give You Freedom to Do Your Job — Not Freedom to Harm Others Behavior Is Always a Choice Behavior Is Not a Knowledge or Skill Issue Like Math or Basketball Blame the Teacher When Students Cut Class?California Keeps Trying to Achieve Equity by Cheating Compassion and Accountability Can Coexist Completion Grades Are a Great Way to Hold Students Accountable Credit Recovery Shouldn't Be a Joke Do We Have a Two-Tier System of High Schools?Does Accepting Late Work Set Students Up for Failure — Or Give Them a Chance to Succeed?Does Not Accepting Late Work Make Students Give Up?Don't Blame Teachers If Nobody Is Making Kids Go to Class Don't Let Students Off the Hook for Doing Their Work Education Is Intended to Be a Gauntlet, Not Just a Credentialing Process Effort, Participation, and Completion Grades Are Important Tools Fake Equity — or 'Cosmequity' — Is Just PR, Not Real Improvement Focus on Process Accountability, Not Outcome Accountability Grades Should Include the Behaviors That Produce Learning Guilt Doesn't Lead to Good Policies Guilt-Driven Grading Policies May Ease Our Guilt — But Are They Better for Students?High Expectations Are Good — Even for Kids Who Fail to Meet Them Holding Schools Accountable for Discipline Stats Doesn't Work How Are Chronic Absenteeism and Graduation Rates Both Going Up?How Campbell's Law Explains What's Going on with School Discipline How Can We Know If Discipline Reform Is Actually Working?How School Teaches Students Not to Procrastinate How Should Teachers Be Judged If They Work in a Dysfunctional School?How Will Students Respond If We Give Them 50 Points No Matter What?If Teachers Can't Give Failing Grades, Why Would Students Do the Work?Is All Behavior Really Communication of Unmet Needs?Is Social Promotion a Good Thing?It's Worth Being Negative About Unforced Errors and Scope Creep Justice in K-12 Is About Quality Education, Not Distorting Discipline Data Kids Need to Experience Minor Setbacks and Disappointments Let's Go Back to High Expectations Let's Not Blame Teachers for Chronic Absenteeism Life Is Full of Provocations — A Student's Behavior Is Never the Teacher's Fault Now That Restorative Practice Isn't Working, Advocates Say It's 'Reformist' to Expect Results People Who Fake Disabilities Don't Have to Live with Them Pity Party Pedagogy Is a Disaster for Students Saying 'Restorative Practices Work Without Consequences If You Implement Correctly' Is a Cop-Out Should Grades Reflect Only Mastery — Or Do Effort and Work Quality Matter?Should Retention Be Used to Hold Students Accountable?Should Students Fail If They Don't Do Most of Their Work?Should Students Get Promoted If They Skip Most of the School Year?Should We Accept Late Work Without Penalty?Should a Student Get a 50 or a Zero for a Missing Assignment?Sometimes It's Appropriate to Be Negative About Bad Practices Stop Evaluating Teachers Based on Things They Don't Control Stop Framing All Self-Control Problems as Skill Deficits Stop Saying Behavior Is a 'Teachable Skill Supposedly Equitable Policies Turn Out Not to Be Good Enough for Advocates' Own Kids Teachers Should Be Able to Give the Grades Students Deserve Teachers Should Be Evaluated on Professional Judgment, Not Just Outcomes Teachers: What Do You Need Your Colleagues to Be Held Accountable For?The Case for Compliance vs. Just Knowing the Material The IEP Has to Actually Work The Simplest Explanation for Chronic Absenteeism: Parents Aren't Making Their Kids Go to School There's No Way Around Parent Responsibility We Can Teach Expectations, But Behavior Itself Is Not a Teachable Skill We Can't Improve Behavior by Fudging Discipline Stats We Don't Have Any Large-Scale Data About Behavior in Schools We Must Be Willing to Do What's Unpleasant in the Short Term We Must Teach Responsibility — Kids Can't Succeed Without It What Gets You the Learning Should Get You the Points What If Students Get a Diploma but Not an Education?What Is the Purpose of Grading?When Chronically Absent Students Still Graduate — Who Does It Hurt?When Mike Miles' Plan for HISD Fails, He'll Have No One to Blame but Himself Why Are Some Educators Obsessed with Eliminating All Accountability from School?Why Do We Act Like Data Is Magical?Why Do We Hold Schools Accountable for Outcomes That Are Really Inputs?Why Do We Insist on Consequences for Our Own Kids but Not Others?Why Don't We Publish a Syllabus for Every Course K-12?Why I Don't Waste Energy Complaining About Parents Why Late Work Is a Problem for Learning Will This Accommodation Actually Increase Your Learning?Zero Credit for Zero Work

Student Behavior

1/3 of Teachers in Scotland Report Being Physically Assaulted at Work A Calming Banana Is the Solution to a Child Punching the Teacher in the Face? No.A General Classroom Is Not a Therapeutic Setting A Student Can't Choose NOT to Be in Fight-Flight-Freeze — But They Can Choose Their Response Accommodations for Anxiety Are Often Counterproductive All Behavior Is Communication' Is Not a Useful Statement Are All Kids Good — Or Are Some Kids Actually Bad?Are Chromebooks as Bad as Cell Phones in the Classroom?Are Consequences Punitive?Are Educators on a Power Trip When They Have Expectations for Students?Are Kids Really Always Doing Their Best?Are Kids Really Different Today? Why Might That Be?Are Schools Too Controlling?Are Smartphones Tanking NAEP Scores? Harvard Dean Says Yes Are We Really Sending the Teacher to the Office When a Student Misbehaves?Attendance, Behavior, Cell Phones: The ABCs of Why Teaching Has Gotten So Hard Behavior Is Always a Choice Behavior Is Not a Knowledge or Skill Issue Like Math or Basketball Bring Back Detention — Little Consequences Make a Big Difference Brockton Teachers and Students Testify Before the Board Over Safety Problems Can We Really Teach Self-Discipline — Or Does It Have to Be Learned Another Way?Cell Phones Themselves — Not Just Social Media — Are the Root of the Problem De-Escalation Is Not the Goal When a Student Is Violent Discipline Consequences Every School Should Have Discipline Consequences: Mega Q&A Does All Bad Behavior Come from Unmet Needs?Don't Let Students Off the Hook for Doing Their Work Gentle Parenting Shouldn't Mean No Boundaries or Consequences Happy Friday the 13th — Is This Actually a Thing in Schools?Have You Tried Building a Relationship? That Relationship Depends on Consequences Here's Why PBIS Can't Work Without Progressive Discipline and Consequences How Did Rewards Ruin PBIS?How Is School Supposed to Work When There's No Way to Make Students Listen?How Much Suffering Should We Aim for in School Discipline?How Strict Is Too Strict?How Will Students Respond If We Give Them 50 Points No Matter What?If Teachers Can't Give Failing Grades, Why Would Students Do the Work?If a Behavior Is Serious Enough for a Restorative Conversation, It's Serious Enough for a Consequence If a Kid Is Throwing Up, We Send Them Home — Why Not When They're Throwing Chairs?Is All Behavior Really Communication of Unmet Needs?Kids Don't Need to Listen to Music While They Work Let's Stop Rewarding Expected Behavior and Restore Accountability Life Is Full of Provocations — A Student's Behavior Is Never the Teacher's Fault Most Students Don't Need to Work at Their Own Pace — They Won't Do It Punished by PBIS Rewards Restoration Rooms Work for an Obvious Reason — Dedicated Staff Time Sensory Rooms Need Adult Management Should Grades Factor in Behavior?Stop Framing All Self-Control Problems as Skill Deficits Stop Saying Behavior Is a 'Teachable Skill Students Don't Get Violent Because School Failed — Don't Put That on Educators Students Need Self-Discipline — What If Parents Aren't Helping?Suspension Is 'Reinforcing' but a Snack Isn't?Teachers Are Being Told They Can't Say 'No' to Students Teachers Don't Need to 'Earn' Student Respect — They Need to Not Lose It Teaching Expected Behavior Is Good — Rewarding It in the Name of PBIS Is a Terrible Idea The 'Dysregulation' Fad and How New Terminology Messes with Our Thinking The 'Why' Behind the Behavior Doesn't Matter — And Worrying About It Is Counterproductive The Case for Compliance vs. Just Knowing the Material The FBA Acronym EATS: Escape, Attention, Tangible, Sensory The Students We Forget About When We Debate Whether Consequences Work Therapists, Stop Telling Educators How to Do Their Jobs Tolerating Elopement Increases It — What Student Would Stay in Class If They Could Leave?We Can Teach Expectations, But Behavior Itself Is Not a Teachable Skill We Can Teach Expected Behaviors — But You Can't Practice Not Doing Something Unsafe We Should Be Able to Talk About Behavior in Both Technical and Plain Language What Do You Think of ClassDojo, PBIS Rewards, and Behavior Points Systems?What Happens When Schools Rely on Behaviorism Without Consequences?What Should You Do If a Student Says 'My Hand Hurts'?What a Sadistic Card Game Taught Me About Teaching Behavior in Schools Where Did PBIS Come From — And How Did It Become What It Is Today?Why Do We Think About Everything BUT Consequences?You Can't Replace Behavior Policy with a 'Relationship Agreement

School Safety

$27 Million Settlement in Bullying Lawsuit — And What It Means for Schools 1/3 of Teachers in Scotland Report Being Physically Assaulted at Work A General Classroom Is Not a Therapeutic Setting Abby Zwerner Won $10 Million After Being Shot by a 6-Year-Old Student — But She Probably Won't Collect Abby Zwerner's Lawsuit Can Proceed — Judge Rules It's NOT a Workers' Comp Issue Are All Kids Good — Or Are Some Kids Actually Bad?Are Consequences Punitive?Athletic Director Jemal Murph Will Keep His Job — Good Band Director Tased Over a Postgame Performance — There Are Lots of Layers to This One Brockton Teachers and Students Testify Before the Board Over Safety Problems Can We Do Away with Suspension?Cell Phones Themselves — Not Just Social Media — Are the Root of the Problem Classroom Management Tips Only Work for Behaviors That Can Be Handled in the Classroom Crime Is a Good Bright Line for Behavior That Can't Be Tolerated in Schools De-Escalation Is Not the Goal When a Student Is Violent Districts Are Afraid of Lawsuits, and That's Making Schools Unsafe Does Out-of-School Suspension Give Students More Time to Get into Trouble?Does Suspension Work?Educators Need a Break from Being on the Front Lines Exclusion Is the Right Solution to Many Behaviors Exclusionary Discipline Is the Only Adequate Response to Violence Exclusionary Discipline Isn't Bad — It's the Best Consequence for Dangerous Behavior Here's Where I'd Start to Make Brockton High School Safe Again How Should We Think About Violence from Students with IEPs?If a Kid Is Throwing Up, We Send Them Home — Why Not When They're Throwing Chairs?Is Being Anti-Violence the Same as Being Anti-Student? Not at All Is Suspension Compassionate? Is It Compassionate to Teach That Violence Is OK?Is Suspension Really a 'Vacation' for the Student?It's Time for Educators to Demand the Right to Refuse Service New School Safety and Order Assessment Tool No IEP Says 'Tolerate Violence No Suspensions for Fighting? That's How You Turn Your School into a Fight Club Preventing Bad Behavior Might Actually Be the Wrong Goal Principals Are in an Impossible Situation When It Comes to Fights Principals Need Power to Keep People Safe Punitive Discipline Works — It Does What It's Intended to Do Repairing the Harm' Is One of the Worst Parts of Restorative Practice Restraint Isn't Just About Preventing Harm to Others — It's About Student Safety Too Safety Matters More Than the IEP Safety and Learning: Two Priorities Above All Schools Can't Be Consequence-Free Zones Schools Need to Take Bullying Seriously — But It's Tricky Scottish Educators Are in Denial That Some Schools Have No Consequences — So Let's Name Names Sending a Violent Student Right Back to Class Creates a Domestic Violence Dynamic Sensory Rooms Need Adult Management Should Students Lose Their Right to Public Education If Their Behavior Is Dangerous?Should the AP in the Abby Zwerner Case Be Criminally Charged?Stop Saying We Can't Suspend Because 'Home Is the Problem Students Don't Get Violent Because School Failed — Don't Put That on Educators Suspension Is a Boundary, Not a Punishment Teacher Throws Desk and Yells at Students — What Should We Make of This?Teachers Are Quitting Over Violence — And Here's Why The Function of School Discipline Is NOT Individual Behavior Change The Restorative Practice Religion Worships the Underdog at Everyone Else's Expense The Right to an Education Does Not Create a Right to Hurt Other People The Students We Forget About When We Debate Whether Consequences Work The Worst Behaviors We're Seeing Are a Direct Result of No-Consequences Policies Violence Sometimes Should End a Relationship — Not Every Relationship Should Be Repaired We Can't Improve Behavior by Fudging Discipline Stats We Can't Use Natural Consequences for Violence — Exclusion Is the Only Humane Option We Need Moral Clarity About Teacher Safety We Need a Firm Boundary Against Classroom Violence We Need to Expel More Students Who Are Violent Toward Women and Children We Need to Stop Letting Students Destroy Classrooms We're Losing More Learning Time by Sending Disruptive Students Right Back to Class When a Student Is Violent, Are We Teaching Others That It's Their Fault?When a Student Is Violent, They Need to Be Sent Home Why Consequences Need to Escalate Why Predictable Consequences Matter for Both Perpetrators and Victims Will More Teachers and Aides Sue Districts Over Student Injuries?Yes, Schools Are Replacing Consequences with Restorative Practices — No, It's Not Working

Curriculum

A Missing Assignment Isn't Just Missing Paperwork — It's Missing Learning A Playground Redesign Is a Better School Project Than a Garden A Schoolwide RTI Intervention Block Doesn't Make a Lot of Sense Advanced Coursework Is Good, But Old-Fashioned Tracking Is Not Balanced Literacy Was Adopted Based on Vibes, Not Evidence Can Schools Actually Engage Students in Effective College and Career Planning?Choice Menus Double the Workload for Teachers While Making Learning Less Likely Critical Thinking Alone Can't Protect Students Against Misinformation Critical Thinking Is Domain-Specific and Can't Be Taught in the Abstract Differentiated Instruction Isn't a Real Thing — It's Doing Multiple Jobs at Once Does Every Child Really Learn Differently? No — And That's a Good Thing Does Small Group Instruction Squander the Literacy Block?Don't Shut Down the Gifted Program — Open It Up Expertise Comes from Domain Knowledge, Not Multiple Intelligences or Learning Styles Group Work Is Usually a Waste of Time Here's Where Academic Gaps Come From Here's Why I'm Betting on a Return to Low-Tech Learning How Much Individualized Math Acceleration Is Too Much?How Much We Teach Matters More Than How We Teach How We Teach Gets Too Much Attention — How Much We Teach Doesn't Get Enough Howard Gardner's Debunked Theory of Multiple Intelligences Won't Die In Defense of Curriculum — Don't Make Teachers Start from Scratch Introducing CAIRO — A New Marketplace for High-Quality Instructional Materials Is Academic Tracking a Bad Thing?Is Calculus in High School Really Just an Access Issue?Is To Kill a Mockingbird a Racist Book?Ivory-Tower Academics Are Now Claiming Knowledge-Building Curriculum Is Bad Kids Need Recess — Cutting It for More Learning Time Is Counterproductive Kids Should Read Whole Books in School, Not Just Excerpts Knowledge Deserves More Credit — Skills Instruction Is Overrated Knowledge Isn't Dirt in the Way of Deeper Learning — It's the Foundation Learning How to Learn Is No Substitute for Actual Knowledge Leveled Reading Is Intuitive but Misguided Mastery Learning Sounds Great — But It Can Run Off the Rails Math Fact Fluency Matters — Memorization Is Not Old-Fashioned Memorizing Is Learning Most Students Don't Need to Work at Their Own Pace — They Won't Do It Not All Pacing Guides Are Good — But It's Crucial to Have Them Open Advanced Coursework for All Instead of Gifted Programs Personalized Learning Isn't Automatically Better Published Curriculum Is Almost Always Better — So Why Are We Avoiding It?Read-Alouds Are Already Perfect — They Don't Need Zany Sound Effects Reading a Lot Makes You a Better Reader — But Slowly, and It's Not the Best Use of School Time Science Doesn't Belong to White People — It Belongs to Everyone Science and Social Studies Are Back — Why Did They Disappear from Elementary Schools?Should Kids Practice Handwriting on an iPad?Stop Expecting Teachers to Build the Airplane While Flying It Students Have to Work Hard to Learn — Technology That Removes the Hard Work Is Lying The Case for Low-Tech Learning There's a Point of Diminishing Returns to Cramming Content into a Course Two Teachers Teaching the Same Class with Different Curriculum Are Doing Totally Different Jobs Vygotsky Was Not a Constructivist in the Way We've Been Led to Believe We Know How to Teach All Students to Read — But Is Anyone Actually Doing It?We Need Curriculum Maps, Not Lesson Plans We've Had Reading Comprehension All Wrong What Do We Do When Students Don't Have Prerequisite Knowledge?What Is the Purpose of Education? To Teach Knowledge and Skills — Not Fix Everything Else Why Concept Maps Are Better Than Answering Questions Why Do Textbooks Get Such a Bad Rap?Why Don't We Publish a Syllabus for Every Course K-12?Why Every School Needs a Pacing Guide Why Is It Taboo to Have Kids Read Grade-Level Text?Why Principals Need Realistic Pacing Guides Yes, Kids Can Miss an Elective to Get Extra Support in Reading or Math

Education Reform

A Gut Check for Innovative-Sounding Ideas: Would I Tolerate This for My Kids?A School Is Basically a Set of Rules Intended to Result in Learning Age-Based Grade Levels Are More Important Than People Think Alpha School's 'AI Instead of Teachers' Model Is Being Overhyped Any New Idea Is Unlikely to Be Better Than the Status Quo Are Bad Policies Part of an Intentional Effort to Destroy Public Education?Be Skeptical of People Selling the Exact Opposite of Conventional Wisdom Can School Choice Put Failing Public Schools Out of Business?Chesterton's Fence: Don't Get Rid of Something If You Don't Know Why It's There Go Slow to Go Fast: Stop Constantly Starting New Initiatives Groupthink Is Out of Control in Education Here's Why I'm Betting on a Return to Low-Tech Learning How Can We Make Teaching a Doable Profession?How to Implement Discipline Reform in 6 Easy Steps (Satire)I Thought We Were Past This — But the Science of Reading Backlash Is Here If We Don't Self-Police, Lawmakers Will Force Clumsy Legislation on Schools It's Worth Being Negative About Unforced Errors and Scope Creep Let's Go Back to High Expectations Let's Stop Weaponizing Good Things by Making Them Do Things They Can't Do Meeting the Needs of the Whole Child Is Society's Job — Not Just Schools Nursing Has Great Career Ladders — Why Doesn't Education?Open-Concept Schools with No Walls? We Tried That in the 1970s — It Didn't Work Opposing Overhyped Fads Is Not the Same as Being Politically Conservative Oppressor-Oppressed Dichotomous Thinking Is Destructive in Education Paraprofessionals Are the Future of the Education Profession Restorative and Trauma-Informed Approaches Don't Contain Any New Good Ideas School Improvement Isn't About Doing as Many Initiatives as Possible Schools Need to Get Out of the Behavior Business Skepticism Is Our Only Defense Against Marketing Fads in Education Sometimes It's Appropriate to Be Negative About Bad Practices State Legislatures Are Banning Things Schools Can't Run Without Sweeping Grading Changes Capture Frustration but Create New Problems The Case for Low-Tech Learning The Cult of Lucy Calkins Is Our Fault The Founder of Conscious Discipline Has 1 Year of Teaching Experience The Status Quo Must Be Carefully Surpassed, Not Disrupted The Teaching Profession Is Too Flat — We Need Growth Pathways We've Got to Stop Letting Enthusiasm Run Ahead of Evidence Welcome to the Department of EDU-phemisms What If Teaching Was a Job You Could Do in 40 Hours a Week?What Is the Purpose of Education? To Teach Knowledge and Skills — Not Fix Everything Else What Would Make Teaching a Job People Actually Want to Do?When Matthew McConaughey Is Your Education Guru, You End Up with a Mess Why Are Some Educators Obsessed with Eliminating All Accountability from School?Why Do We Always Take Things Way Too Far?Why Is 'Order' Such a Distasteful Idea in Education?

Equity

50 Points as the Minimum Grade for No Work? That's Deception, Not Compassion Adult Convenience Is No Excuse for Embarrassing Students Advanced Coursework Is Good, But Old-Fashioned Tracking Is Not Anti-Suspension NIMBYism: These Policies Are Only Good Enough for Other People's Kids California Keeps Trying to Achieve Equity by Cheating Compassion and Accountability Can Coexist Different Consequences for the Same Behavior? Here's Why That Can Backfire Do We Have a Two-Tier System of High Schools?Don't Shut Down the Gifted Program — Open It Up Fake Equity — or 'Cosmequity' — Is Just PR, Not Real Improvement Guilt Doesn't Lead to Good Policies Has High School Athletics Been Captured by High-Income Families?High Expectations Are Good — Even for Kids Who Fail to Meet Them How Can We Get the Best Teachers Working with Our Highest-Need Students?If Algebra in Middle School Is Good for My Kid, It's Probably Good for Yours Too If Below-Grade-Level Kids Always Get Taught Below Grade Level, When Will They Catch Up?Is Academic Tracking a Bad Thing?Is Calculus in High School Really Just an Access Issue?Is To Kill a Mockingbird a Racist Book?Justice in K-12 Is About Quality Education, Not Distorting Discipline Data Let's Translate Home-to-School Communications into the Languages Our Families Actually Speak Lunch Money Is Not Something Kids Should Ever Have to Worry About More Evidence That Lower Standards Are Bad for Kids Most Teachers Are Women — And Men Are Overrepresented in Administration Of Course Private Schools Don't Admit Students with Expensive Special Needs Open Advanced Coursework for All Instead of Gifted Programs Oppressor-Oppressed Dichotomous Thinking Is Destructive in Education Pity Party Pedagogy Is a Disaster for Students School Choice Doesn't Improve Outcomes — It Divides Students Based on Privilege School Choice Requires Parents to Know What's Going On — That's a Pretty High Bar School Lunch Has a Big Drawback: Kids Are Out of School for More Than Half the Year School Vouchers Will Just Cause Private Schools to Raise Tuition Schools Have No Business Regulating Students' Hair Science Doesn't Belong to White People — It Belongs to Everyone Specialized Programs Are Not Automatically Segregation Standardized Tests Can Actually Reduce Disparities in College Admissions Supposedly Equitable Policies Turn Out Not to Be Good Enough for Advocates' Own Kids Travel Teams Are Bad for High School Sports — Time to Ban Them Vouchers Are a Reverse Robin Hood Scheme Where Does Disproportionality in Discipline Statistics Come From?Why Do We Compare Students to Each Other?Why Do We Hold Schools Accountable for Outcomes That Are Really Inputs?Why Do We Insist on Consequences for Our Own Kids but Not Others?

Grading

50 Points as the Minimum Grade for No Work? That's Deception, Not Compassion A 50 and a 0 Are Both F's on the Report Card — But Very Different in the Gradebook A Missing Assignment Isn't Just Missing Paperwork — It's Missing Learning Are Kids Really Always Doing Their Best?Completion Grades Are a Great Way to Hold Students Accountable Credit Recovery Shouldn't Be a Joke Does Accepting Late Work Set Students Up for Failure — Or Give Them a Chance to Succeed?Does Not Accepting Late Work Make Students Give Up?Don't Let Students Off the Hook for Doing Their Work Effort, Participation, and Completion Grades Are Important Tools Get Suspended, Get Zeroes on Everything You Miss? No.Grades Should Include the Behaviors That Produce Learning Grading Only for Mastery Takes Away an Important Feedback Tool Guilt-Driven Grading Policies May Ease Our Guilt — But Are They Better for Students?How Does Standards-Based Grading Work When Students Are Far Below Grade Level?How Will Students Respond If We Give Them 50 Points No Matter What?If Teachers Can't Give Failing Grades, Why Would Students Do the Work?If You Want a Pure Measure of Learning, Use Standardized Tests — Let Grades Keep Students Accountable Is AI Grading a Good Idea? Not If It Damages the Teacher-Student Relationship Late Work Is a Logistical Nightmare — And It Undermines Learning Should Grades Factor in Behavior?Should Grades Reflect Only Mastery — Or Do Effort and Work Quality Matter?Should Students Fail If They Don't Do Most of Their Work?Should We Accept Late Work Without Penalty?Should a Student Get a 50 or a Zero for a Missing Assignment?Standards-Based Grading Sounds Great — Until You Realize Most Courses Don't Have Clear Standards Sweeping Grading Changes Capture Frustration but Create New Problems Teachers Should Be Able to Give the Grades Students Deserve The Case for Compliance vs. Just Knowing the Material What Gets You the Learning Should Get You the Points What Is the Purpose of Grading?What's Your Experience with Standards-Based Grading?Why Do We Compare Students to Each Other?Why Isn't Standards-Based Grading the Solution to Grade Inflation?Why Late Work Is a Problem for Learning Why an 80 Should Be an A — And a Missing Assignment Should Be a True Zero Zero Credit for Zero Work

Teacher Workload

Are Teachers Being Asked to Write More Recommendation Letters Than Ever?Can We Demand Less of Teachers — And Actually Get Better Results?Choice Menus Double the Workload for Teachers While Making Learning Less Likely Complexity Makes Teaching Harder and Doesn't Save Money Differentiated Instruction Isn't a Real Thing — It's Doing Multiple Jobs at Once Do Teachers Need More PTO?HISD Under Mike Miles Is Assessing Teachers and Students to Death Here's Why Teachers Call in Sick When They're Not Sick How Can We Make Teaching a Doable Profession?In Defense of Curriculum — Don't Make Teachers Start from Scratch Is Burnout a Systemic Issue?Is It OK for Staff to Arrive and Leave When Students Do?Late Work Is a Logistical Nightmare — And It Undermines Learning Let Teachers Make Copies Let's Make Teaching a Job People Want to Do No Back-to-School Stuff in June or July No Quitting Time = Wasted Time — Set a Deadline and Go Home Normalize Saying 'That's Not My Area of Expertise Not Enough Subs? That's a Money Problem — Stop Asking Teachers to Cover Classes Principals Are Buffering Staff from Excessive PD Mandates — Even If It Doesn't Seem Like It Published Curriculum Is Almost Always Better — So Why Are We Avoiding It?Save Everyone's Time — Stop Collecting Lesson Plans Stop Asking Teachers to Turn in Lesson Plans — Visit Classrooms Instead Stop Expecting Teachers to Build the Airplane While Flying It Stop Giving Teachers Extra Work to Make Administrators Look Good Stop Making Teachers Turn in Lesson Plans Teachers Actually Like PD — If It's Relevant to Their Subject Area Teachers Need 2-3x as Much Prep Time Teachers Need Paid Classroom Setup Time Teachers Should Be Paid Extra for Extra Work Teaching Is Not Just One Job — It's Many Distinct Jobs The Micromanagement of Teachers in HISD Is Like Nothing I've Ever Seen Time to Do Your Job Is Not a Gift — It's a Basic Working Condition Too Many Mandatory Trainings — And They're the Same Every Year We Need Curriculum Maps, Not Lesson Plans What If Teaching Was a Job You Could Do in 40 Hours a Week?What Teachers Really Want for PD Days: Breakfast, Lunch, and Time to Work

Teacher Retention

Attendance, Behavior, Cell Phones: The ABCs of Why Teaching Has Gotten So Hard Can We Demand Less of Teachers — And Actually Get Better Results?Changing Jobs Is Good for the Profession — It Needs to Be Easier Do Teachers Need More PTO?Educators Need a Break from Being on the Front Lines Firing a Teacher for Using Sick Leave to Attend a Concert Is a Huge Overreaction How Can We Get the Best Teachers Working with Our Highest-Need Students?How Can We Make Teaching a Doable Profession?How Is Hiring Competitive If There Are So Many Vacancies?How Much Do Subs Make in Your District?Is Burnout a Systemic Issue?Is Teaching Too Flat a Profession?Late Hiring in Hard-to-Fill Areas Let's Make Teaching a Job People Want to Do Let's Not Blame Teachers for Chronic Absenteeism Merit Pay Cannot Work — Here Are Three Reasons Why Not Enough Subs? That's a Money Problem — Stop Asking Teachers to Cover Classes Nursing Has Great Career Ladders — Why Doesn't Education?Paraprofessionals Are the Future of the Education Profession Parents Are Competing for Teacher Talent by the Way They Act Prices Have Gone Up — Cost-of-Living Adjustments Aren't Cutting It Anymore Teacher Job Posting: We'll Treat You with Respect and Back You Up on Discipline Teacher Throws Desk and Yells at Students — What Should We Make of This?Teachers Are Adult Professionals, Not Children Teachers Are Quitting Over Violence — And Here's Why Teachers Need Ways to Advance Without Leaving the Classroom Teachers Quit Principals — Or Stay Because of Them The #1 Quality Teachers Need in a Principal: Backbone The Micromanagement of Teachers in HISD Is Like Nothing I've Ever Seen The Struggle Is Real The Teaching Profession Is Too Flat — We Need Growth Pathways This Is for Anyone Who Feels Like Quitting What If Teaching Was a Job You Could Do in 40 Hours a Week?What Would Make Teaching a Job People Actually Want to Do?Why Is It So Hard to Get Subs?Why Merit Pay and Vouchers Have Never Worked — And Never Will Why Try to Keep Teachers from Leaving When They Already Have Another Offer?

Workplace Culture

A School Is a Professional Workplace, Not a Family — And It's a Red Flag If Someone Calls It One A Staff Icebreaker Idea Administrators Are Realizing How Grim It Is to Have Teachers Pay for Their Own Appreciation Gifts Adults Aren't Kids — Teachers Are Professionals Are Faculty Icebreakers a Good Use of Time?Asking People for Their Jeans Pass at the Airport Barbed Facts and Loaded Questions Are Just Passive Aggression Do We Really Need Separate Appreciation Days for Principals and Vice Principals?Do You Appreciate Little Gifts from Your Principal, or Do They Do More Harm Than Good?Firing a Teacher for Using Sick Leave to Attend a Concert Is a Huge Overreaction Here's Why Teachers Call in Sick When They're Not Sick Icebreakers Aren't Fun for Everyone — Here's Why If Jeans Are OK with a Jeans Pass, Teachers Should Be Able to Wear Them All the Time Is It OK for Staff to Arrive and Leave When Students Do?Is Your Employer Entitled to Your Heart? Your Vulnerability?Jeans Passes Are Infantilizing Let Teachers Make Copies No Coffee in Front of Students? That's Taking 'Modeling' Too Far No Quitting Time = Wasted Time — Set a Deadline and Go Home Office Supplies Are Not a Gift Professional Respect Is the Most Important Form of Teacher Appreciation School Culture Is About More Than Cheering People Up Should Teachers Have to Follow Student Rules?Should Your Boss Say 'I Love You' — Or Is That Weird?Sick Leave Is a Benefit, Not an Entitlement Stop with All the Ultra-Specific Appreciation Days — Just Have One Staff Appreciation Week Teachers Are Adult Professionals, Not Children Teachers Are Professionals — Enough with the Jeans Pass Nonsense Teachers Need Paid Classroom Setup Time Teachers Should Be Paid Extra for Extra Work Teachers: What Do You Need Your Colleagues to Be Held Accountable For?Time to Do Your Job Is Not a Gift — It's a Basic Working Condition Translate Into Adult: Teachers Get Food, Not 'Treats What If We Treated Everyone as If They Had a Union Backing Them Up?What Would Make Teaching a Job People Actually Want to Do?Your Staff Is Not Your Class

Career Development

Accomplishments Are What Make a Resume Stand Out An Admin Job Interview Might Not Feel Like a Competition — But It Is Apply Online — But Send a Hard Copy on Good Paper Too Applying for Admin Jobs? Start Working on This Now Applying for a Job Isn't Like Applying for a Driver's License — It's Competitive Black Friday Admin Job Search Webinar Can Schools Actually Engage Students in Effective College and Career Planning?Changing Jobs Is Good for the Profession — It Needs to Be Easier December Job Search Tip: Nobody Is Hiring, But You Should Be Getting Ready Don't Make This Mistake If You're Using AI to Write Your Cover Letter Feeling Discouraged in the Admin Job Search? That's Normal How Do People Get Education Jobs with Unique Titles Like 'Director of Innovation'?How Much Teaching Experience Before Becoming a Principal?How Much Teaching Experience Should You Need Before Becoming an Administrator?How to Get a Good Recommendation Letter How to Prepare for a Principal or AP Job Interview How to Prepare for a Virtual Screening Interview Is It Weird to Want to Be a Principal from Day One of Teaching?Is Teaching Too Flat a Profession?Most Teachers Are Women — And Men Are Overrepresented in Administration Moving from AP to Principal — in NASSP's Principal Leadership Magazine New Resume and Cover Letter Templates Nursing Has Great Career Ladders — Why Doesn't Education?One Change to Make in Your Resume and Cover Letter to Get More Interviews Our Cover Letter Generator for Education Leadership Jobs Paraprofessionals Are the Future of the Education Profession Prepare Now to Seriously Compete for Jobs Should People Become Administrators Without Teaching First?Teachers Need Ways to Advance Without Leaving the Classroom The Admin Job Search Isn't About 'Fit' — It's a Competition to Win The Teaching Profession Is Too Flat — We Need Growth Pathways This Is for Anyone Who Feels Like Quitting Understanding the Numbers Game in the Ed Leadership Job Search What Sections Should Go in Your Admin Resume?Your Resume and Cover Letter Determine If You Get an Interview

Standards

Advanced Coursework Is Good, But Old-Fashioned Tracking Is Not California Keeps Trying to Achieve Equity by Cheating Credit Recovery Shouldn't Be a Joke Do We Have a Two-Tier System of High Schools?Education Is Intended to Be a Gauntlet, Not Just a Credentialing Process Grading Only for Mastery Takes Away an Important Feedback Tool Here's Where Academic Gaps Come From High Expectations Are Good — Even for Kids Who Fail to Meet Them How Does Standards-Based Grading Work When Students Are Far Below Grade Level?How Much We Teach Matters More Than How We Teach How We Teach Gets Too Much Attention — How Much We Teach Doesn't Get Enough If Algebra in Middle School Is Good for My Kid, It's Probably Good for Yours Too If Below-Grade-Level Kids Always Get Taught Below Grade Level, When Will They Catch Up?If You Want a Pure Measure of Learning, Use Standardized Tests — Let Grades Keep Students Accountable Is Social Promotion a Good Thing?Let's Go Back to High Expectations Mastery Learning Sounds Great — But It Can Run Off the Rails More Evidence That Lower Standards Are Bad for Kids Not All Pacing Guides Are Good — But It's Crucial to Have Them Open Advanced Coursework for All Instead of Gifted Programs Pity Party Pedagogy Is a Disaster for Students Science Doesn't Belong to White People — It Belongs to Everyone Science and Social Studies Are Back — Why Did They Disappear from Elementary Schools?Should Retention Be Used to Hold Students Accountable?Standards-Based Grading Sounds Great — Until You Realize Most Courses Don't Have Clear Standards There's a Point of Diminishing Returns to Cramming Content into a Course Trauma-Informed Should Not Mean Lower Expectations Two Teachers Teaching the Same Class with Different Curriculum Are Doing Totally Different Jobs What If Students Get a Diploma but Not an Education?What's Your Experience with Standards-Based Grading?When Did 'Trauma-Informed' Become a Euphemism for Low Expectations?Why Every School Needs a Pacing Guide Why Is It Taboo to Have Kids Read Grade-Level Text?Why Isn't Standards-Based Grading the Solution to Grade Inflation?Why Principals Need Realistic Pacing Guides

Special Education

100% Full Inclusion Is Not a Decision That Should Be Made Outside the IEP Team A Calming Banana Is the Solution to a Child Punching the Teacher in the Face? No.A General Classroom Is Not a Therapeutic Setting Accommodations for Anxiety Are Often Counterproductive Conflating Disabilities with Parent Preferences About How Schools Should Run Is Dangerous Create Specialized Programs — Don't Throw 1:1 Aides at Inappropriate Placements Every Student Deserves a FAPE — But That Doesn't Automatically Mean Full Inclusion How Should We Think About Violence from Students with IEPs?Idaho Schools Consistently Break Special Education Laws — And They're Not Alone Inclusion Needs to Be an Option — But Not the Only Option Is Being Anti-Violence the Same as Being Anti-Student? Not at All Least Restrictive Environment Doesn't Mean Anything Goes More Teacher Training Isn't Always the Answer — Some Students Need a Specialized Environment New Brunswick's Premier Says Full Inclusion Isn't Working No IEP Says 'Tolerate Violence Not All Students Who Struggle with Behavior Need IEPs Of Course Private Schools Don't Admit Students with Expensive Special Needs People Who Fake Disabilities Don't Have to Live with Them Researchers Estimate 25-50% of College-Age ADHD Diagnoses Are Bogus Restraint Isn't Just About Preventing Harm to Others — It's About Student Safety Too Safety Matters More Than the IEP Sensory Rooms Need Adult Management Some Kids Need Small Classes Tailored to Their Needs Some Students Are More Expensive to Educate — Private Schools Know This Special Education Is a Service, Not a Place — But Sometimes That Service Requires a Specific Place Specialized Programs Are Not Automatically Segregation The Evidence for Inclusion May Not Be as Strong as We Thought The FBA Acronym EATS: Escape, Attention, Tangible, Sensory The Goal of Inclusion Has to Be Supporting Learning, Not Just Physical Placement The IEP Has to Actually Work Will This Accommodation Actually Increase Your Learning?Yes, College Students Are Faking Disabilities for Academic Advantages

Assessment

12.5% of UCSD Students Need Remedial Math — And the University Had to Add an Even More Basic Level A 50 and a 0 Are Both F's on the Report Card — But Very Different in the Gradebook A Missing Assignment Isn't Just Missing Paperwork — It's Missing Learning Are Data Walls a Waste of Time?Are Smartphones Tanking NAEP Scores? Harvard Dean Says Yes Climate Surveys Are a Crucial Data Source Completion Grades Are a Great Way to Hold Students Accountable Do Timed Math Tests Cause Anxiety? No — But Dr. Jo Boaler Has Been Claiming They Do Effort, Participation, and Completion Grades Are Important Tools Focus on Process Accountability, Not Outcome Accountability Grades Should Include the Behaviors That Produce Learning Grading Only for Mastery Takes Away an Important Feedback Tool HISD Under Mike Miles Is Assessing Teachers and Students to Death How Bad Is iReady? Let Me Know What You Think How Can We Know If Discipline Reform Is Actually Working?If You Want a Pure Measure of Learning, Use Standardized Tests — Let Grades Keep Students Accountable It's Time to Go Back to Paper-and-Pencil Standardized Testing Researchers Estimate 25-50% of College-Age ADHD Diagnoses Are Bogus Should Grades Factor in Behavior?Should Grades Reflect Only Mastery — Or Do Effort and Work Quality Matter?Standardized Tests Can Actually Reduce Disparities in College Admissions Standards-Based Grading Sounds Great — Until You Realize Most Courses Don't Have Clear Standards Value-Added Measurement Failed — And Here's a Fundamental Reason Why We Don't Have Any Large-Scale Data About Behavior in Schools What Is the Purpose of Grading?What's Your Experience with Standards-Based Grading?Why Are We Giving Students Public Goals for Standardized Assessments?Why Concept Maps Are Better Than Answering Questions Why Do We Act Like Data Is Magical?Why Do We Compare Students to Each Other?Why an 80 Should Be an A — And a Missing Assignment Should Be a True Zero Yes, College Students Are Faking Disabilities for Academic Advantages

Professional Development

3 Reasons Traditional Feedback Fails Are Faculty Icebreakers a Good Use of Time?Charlotte Danielson's Best Book Is About Teacher Growth Through Professional Conversation Do Master's Degrees Really Have a Negative Impact on Student Learning?Education Research Is No Longer About Education — It's About Impressing Other Researchers Feedback Usually Misses the Mark — Stop Playing Games and Have Real Conversations Free Webinar: Feedback Fail — Why Traditional Feedback Falls Flat Harry Wong Has Passed — How Did He Impact Your Career?I Tried That and It Didn't Work' — There's a Learning Curve to Any Teaching Practice Icebreakers Aren't Fun for Everyone — Here's Why Is It Fair to Expect Teachers to Keep Improving Throughout Their Careers?Leaders Seek Wisdom, Not Validation More Teacher Training Isn't Always the Answer — Some Students Need a Specialized Environment New Show: Check Out My Interview with Ms. Sam on FASE Reading Panel Discussion with Sibme and 3 Inspiring Leaders Principals Are Buffering Staff from Excessive PD Mandates — Even If It Doesn't Seem Like It Rosenshine's Principles in Action Is a Book Every Educator Should Read Should Experienced Teachers Be Evaluated Differently Than New Teachers?Stop Telling Teachers to 'Build Relationships' — Say This Instead Teachers Actually Like PD — If It's Relevant to Their Subject Area Teachers Need to Learn About the Science of Learning Teaching Is Not Just One Job — It's Many Distinct Jobs The Cyclical Nature of the School Year Gives Us a Built-In Fresh Start Too Many Mandatory Trainings — And They're the Same Every Year We Are Canceling School Too Much What Do You Think About Being Required to Read Professional Books?What Teachers Really Want for PD Days: Breakfast, Lunch, and Time to Work When Our Identity Is Wrapped Up in an Ineffective Practice, It's Hard to Move On Why Won't the Myth of Learning Styles Die?World's Shortest Bloodborne Pathogens Training

Research

Are Chromebooks as Bad as Cell Phones in the Classroom?Are Smartphones Tanking NAEP Scores? Harvard Dean Says Yes Can We Help Students Become Better Readers by Buying Them Bigger Shoes?Do Master's Degrees Really Have a Negative Impact on Student Learning?Do Timed Math Tests Cause Anxiety? No — But Dr. Jo Boaler Has Been Claiming They Do Does Every Child Really Learn Differently? No — And That's a Good Thing Does Ibuprofen Cause Future Headaches? Yet Another Correlational Study on Suspension Don't Believe People When They Say 'Research Says Education Research Is No Longer About Education — It's About Impressing Other Researchers Evidence vs. Ideology: Can We Break the School-to-Prison Pipeline Without Consequences?Exclusionary Discipline Doesn't Work? Says Who — Show Me the Research Expertise Comes from Domain Knowledge, Not Multiple Intelligences or Learning Styles Heggerty Doesn't Work? Hold Up — That's the Old Version Howard Gardner's Debunked Theory of Multiple Intelligences Won't Die Ivory-Tower Academics Are Now Claiming Knowledge-Building Curriculum Is Bad More Evidence That Lower Standards Are Bad for Kids My Intuition Was Wrong: Independent Reading Doesn't Make You a Stronger Reader New Study: Cell Phone Bans Improve Learning — Largely by Reducing Absenteeism Stanford Won't Investigate Dr. Jo Boaler's Research Misconduct Allegations Teachers Need to Learn About the Science of Learning The Evidence for Inclusion May Not Be as Strong as We Thought The School-to-Prison Pipeline Is a Persistent Edu-Myth The So-Called School-to-Prison Pipeline: Here's My Take on the Browne-Hoge Study Value-Added Measurement Failed — And Here's a Fundamental Reason Why Vygotsky Was Not a Constructivist in the Way We've Been Led to Believe What About the School-to-Prison Pipeline Research?Where Did PBIS Come From — And How Did It Become What It Is Today?Where Does Disproportionality in Discipline Statistics Come From?Why Do So Many People Think Suspension Is Bad for Students?Why Won't the Myth of Learning Styles Die?

Classroom Management

A Classroom Teardown Tip I Came Across Today A General Classroom Is Not a Therapeutic Setting Administrators, Are We Making Too Much Noise?All Behavior Is Communication' Is Not a Useful Statement Are Educators on a Power Trip When They Have Expectations for Students?Are We Really Sending the Teacher to the Office When a Student Misbehaves?Can We Really Teach Self-Discipline — Or Does It Have to Be Learned Another Way?Classroom Management Tips Only Work for Behaviors That Can Be Handled in the Classroom Good Classroom Management Isn't Enough — You Also Need Supportive Administration Group Work Is Usually a Waste of Time Harry Wong Has Passed — How Did He Impact Your Career?Have You Tried Building a Relationship? That Relationship Depends on Consequences How Is School Supposed to Work When There's No Way to Make Students Listen?If You Don't Want Teachers Sending Students to the Office, Make Sure They Have Other Tools Is Teach Like a Champion Authoritarian?Kids Don't Need to Listen to Music While They Work No Sending Kids to the Office at All? That's a Problem Office-Managed vs. Classroom-Managed Behaviors Sending a Student Right Back to Class Is the Worst Thing You Can Do Stop Telling Teachers to 'Build Relationships' — Say This Instead Students Shouldn't Sit in Groups When They Aren't Working Collaboratively Teachers Are Being Told They Can't Say 'No' to Students Teachers Don't Need to 'Earn' Student Respect — They Need to Not Lose It Tolerating Elopement Increases It — What Student Would Stay in Class If They Could Leave?Trauma-Informed Opposition to Teach Like a Champion Reveals What Trauma Talk Really Is What Needs to Happen When a Student Gets Sent Out of Class What Should You Do If a Student Says 'My Hand Hurts'?

Suspension

1/3 of Teachers in Scotland Report Being Physically Assaulted at Work Anti-Suspension NIMBYism: These Policies Are Only Good Enough for Other People's Kids Can We Do Away with Suspension?Does Ibuprofen Cause Future Headaches? Yet Another Correlational Study on Suspension Does Out-of-School Suspension Give Students More Time to Get into Trouble?Does Suspension Work?Exclusion Is the Right Solution to Many Behaviors Exclusionary Discipline Doesn't Work? Says Who — Show Me the Research Exclusionary Discipline Is the Only Adequate Response to Violence Exclusionary Discipline Isn't Bad — It's the Best Consequence for Dangerous Behavior Get Suspended, Get Zeroes on Everything You Miss? No.Is Suspension Compassionate? Is It Compassionate to Teach That Violence Is OK?Is Suspension Really a 'Vacation' for the Student?No Suspensions for Fighting? That's How You Turn Your School into a Fight Club Policymakers Who Think Schools Don't Need Suspension for Violence Have Never Worked in a School Stop Saying We Can't Suspend Because 'Home Is the Problem Suspension Is 'Reinforcing' but a Snack Isn't?Suspension Is a Boundary, Not a Punishment Suspension Works Because It Inconveniences the Parent The School-to-Prison Pipeline Is a Persistent Edu-Myth The So-Called School-to-Prison Pipeline: Here's My Take on the Browne-Hoge Study We Can't Use Natural Consequences for Violence — Exclusion Is the Only Humane Option What About the School-to-Prison Pipeline Research?What Can Schools Do When Suspension Is Illegal Under State Law?When a Student Is Violent, They Need to Be Sent Home Why Do So Many People Think Suspension Is Bad for Students?

Parent Communication

A Calming Banana Is the Solution to a Child Punching the Teacher in the Face? No.Conflating Disabilities with Parent Preferences About How Schools Should Run Is Dangerous Gentle Parenting Shouldn't Mean No Boundaries or Consequences Kids Don't Need Phones in Bed — They Need Sleep Kids Need to Experience Minor Setbacks and Disappointments Kids Should Not Take Their Cell Phones to Bed. Period.Let's Translate Home-to-School Communications into the Languages Our Families Actually Speak No, an iPad App Can't Teach Your 2-Year-Old to Read Parents Are Competing for Teacher Talent by the Way They Act Parents Are Not Entitled to Non-Stop Text Access to Their Child During School Parents Do NOT Need to Text Their Kids During the School Day School Choice Requires Parents to Know What's Going On — That's a Pretty High Bar Should We Encourage Anxiety in Parents, Students, and Staff?Sorry, But Makeup Work Doesn't Really Make Up for Missing School Stop Letting Delusional Travel Ball Parents Run Youth Sports Students Need Self-Discipline — What If Parents Aren't Helping?Suspension Works Because It Inconveniences the Parent The Average Kid Gets a Smartphone at 10-11 and Is on It Until Midnight The Simplest Explanation for Chronic Absenteeism: Parents Aren't Making Their Kids Go to School There's No Way Around Parent Responsibility Truancy Courts Need to Threaten Parents with Legal Action Want More Funding for Schools? Ask When School Is Out We Are Canceling School Too Much What About 'Reverse Suspension'? Parent and Child in a Conference Instead Why Don't We Publish a Syllabus for Every Course K-12?Why I Don't Waste Energy Complaining About Parents

Literacy

A Bounty Program for Teaching Kids to Read? $20K Would Go a Long Way Balanced Literacy Was Adopted Based on Vibes, Not Evidence Can We Help Students Become Better Readers by Buying Them Bigger Shoes?Does Small Group Instruction Squander the Literacy Block?Heggerty Doesn't Work? Hold Up — That's the Old Version I Thought We Were Past This — But the Science of Reading Backlash Is Here Illiteracy Is a Policy Choice Intervention Is Underrated as a Key to Early Reading Success Is Phonemic Awareness Instruction a Waste of Time?Ivory-Tower Academics Are Now Claiming Knowledge-Building Curriculum Is Bad Kids Should Read Whole Books in School, Not Just Excerpts Leveled Reading Is Intuitive but Misguided Lucy Calkins, Fountas & Pinnell, and Heinemann Are Being Sued by Parents My Intuition Was Wrong: Independent Reading Doesn't Make You a Stronger Reader New Show: Check Out My Interview with Ms. Sam on FASE Reading No, an iPad App Can't Teach Your 2-Year-Old to Read Read-Alouds Are Already Perfect — They Don't Need Zany Sound Effects Reading a Lot Makes You a Better Reader — But Slowly, and It's Not the Best Use of School Time Repeated Reading Is a Great Way to Scaffold Grade-Level Text for Below-Level Readers Sold a Story Steers Us Away from Pendulum Swings in Episode 10 The Cult of Lucy Calkins Is Our Fault We Know How to Teach All Students to Read — But Is Anyone Actually Doing It?We've Had Reading Comprehension All Wrong Why Is It Taboo to Have Kids Read Grade-Level Text?Yes, Kids Can Miss an Elective to Get Extra Support in Reading or Math

Cell Phones

A School Is Basically a Set of Rules Intended to Result in Learning Are Chromebooks as Bad as Cell Phones in the Classroom?Are Smartphones Tanking NAEP Scores? Harvard Dean Says Yes Attendance, Behavior, Cell Phones: The ABCs of Why Teaching Has Gotten So Hard Away for the Day Is the Best Phone Policy for Schools BYOD: Bring Your Own Distraction Cell Phone Bans Need Admin Backup — It's Worth It Cell Phones Themselves — Not Just Social Media — Are the Root of the Problem Constant Cell Phone Notifications Aren't Good for Kids' Developing Brains Cyberbullying Isn't Usually True Bullying — But Social Media Is Still a Problem Hawthorn College Students Voted to Ban All Wireless Technology on Campus If We Don't Self-Police, Lawmakers Will Force Clumsy Legislation on Schools Is It Even Possible for Schools to Effectively Ban Cell Phones? Yes.It's Time to Ban Cell Phones During the School Day Kids Don't Need Phones in Bed — They Need Sleep Kids Should Not Take Their Cell Phones to Bed. Period.More Schools Are Banning Phones — But They Won't Succeed Without Enforcement New Study: Cell Phone Bans Improve Learning — Largely by Reducing Absenteeism New Zealand's Student Cell Phone Ban Takes Full Effect Today Parents Are Not Entitled to Non-Stop Text Access to Their Child During School Parents Do NOT Need to Text Their Kids During the School Day Students Do NOT Need Cell Phones to Do Their Schoolwork The Average Kid Gets a Smartphone at 10-11 and Is on It Until Midnight The Best Student Cell Phone Policy: Off and Away The Right Amount of Cell Phone Use During the School Day Is Zero

School Finance

A Bounty Program for Teaching Kids to Read? $20K Would Go a Long Way Can School Choice Put Failing Public Schools Out of Business?Central Office Admin Bloat Is a Real Problem Create Specialized Programs — Don't Throw 1:1 Aides at Inappropriate Placements Has High School Athletics Been Captured by High-Income Families?How Much Do Subs Make in Your District?Idaho Schools Consistently Break Special Education Laws — And They're Not Alone Merit Pay Cannot Work — Here Are Three Reasons Why Mike Miles Is in Hot Water Again — 40% of Budget Going to Third Future Schools Not Enough Subs? That's a Money Problem — Stop Asking Teachers to Cover Classes Office Supplies Are Not a Gift Prices Have Gone Up — Cost-of-Living Adjustments Aren't Cutting It Anymore School Choice Doesn't Improve Outcomes — It Divides Students Based on Privilege School Counselors Matter School Vouchers Will Just Cause Private Schools to Raise Tuition Should Schools Pay Parents to Get Their Kids to School Every Day?Some Students Are More Expensive to Educate — Private Schools Know This Some Students Simply Need Smaller Classes and Schools Teacher Appreciation Starts at the Ballot Box Teachers Should Be Paid Extra for Extra Work Vouchers Are a Reverse Robin Hood Scheme Want More Funding for Schools? Ask When School Is Out Why Is It So Hard to Get Subs?Why Merit Pay and Vouchers Have Never Worked — And Never Will

Mental Health

A Student Can't Choose NOT to Be in Fight-Flight-Freeze — But They Can Choose Their Response AI-Generated SEL and Mental Health Lesson Plans? First, That's Not Our Wheelhouse Accommodations for Anxiety Are Often Counterproductive Are Kids Really Different Today? Why Might That Be?Are You Seeing Behavioral and Mental Health Scope Creep in Schools?Away for the Day Is the Best Phone Policy for Schools Constant Cell Phone Notifications Aren't Good for Kids' Developing Brains Cyberbullying Isn't Usually True Bullying — But Social Media Is Still a Problem Does All Bad Behavior Come from Unmet Needs?Educators Need a Break from Being on the Front Lines Kids Don't Need Phones in Bed — They Need Sleep Kids Should Not Take Their Cell Phones to Bed. Period.Meeting the Needs of the Whole Child Is Society's Job — Not Just Schools Normalize Saying 'That's Not My Area of Expertise Researchers Estimate 25-50% of College-Age ADHD Diagnoses Are Bogus School Counselors Matter Should We Encourage Anxiety in Parents, Students, and Staff?Should We Provide Mental Health Support to Kids Who Don't Need It?The 'Dysregulation' Fad and How New Terminology Messes with Our Thinking The Average Kid Gets a Smartphone at 10-11 and Is on It Until Midnight Therapeutic Approaches Are Being Tried in English Schools — But Schools Are for Education Trauma-Informed Should Not Mean Lower Expectations When Did 'Trauma-Informed' Become a Euphemism for Low Expectations?

School Law

$27 Million Settlement in Bullying Lawsuit — And What It Means for Schools AFT Is Trying to Get Educators to Be 'Mandatory Supporters' Instead of Mandatory Reporters — No Abby Zwerner Won $10 Million After Being Shot by a 6-Year-Old Student — But She Probably Won't Collect Abby Zwerner's Lawsuit Can Proceed — Judge Rules It's NOT a Workers' Comp Issue Athletic Director Jemal Murph Will Keep His Job — Good Boundaries Aren't Based on Good Intentions — They Exist Because We Need Them Bullying-Related Lawsuits May Be What Finally Ends Restorative-Only Discipline Crime Is a Good Bright Line for Behavior That Can't Be Tolerated in Schools Districts Are Afraid of Lawsuits, and That's Making Schools Unsafe Districts Do Illegal Things All the Time — Don't Take Personal Responsibility for It Every Student Deserves a FAPE — But That Doesn't Automatically Mean Full Inclusion Idaho Schools Consistently Break Special Education Laws — And They're Not Alone If We Don't Prosecute Truancy, Education Won't Be Truly Compulsory Lucy Calkins, Fountas & Pinnell, and Heinemann Are Being Sued by Parents Should Students Lose Their Right to Public Education If Their Behavior Is Dangerous?Should the AP in the Abby Zwerner Case Be Criminally Charged?State Legislatures Are Banning Things Schools Can't Run Without The Right to an Education Does Not Create a Right to Hurt Other People Truancy Courts Need to Threaten Parents with Legal Action What Can Schools Do When Suspension Is Illegal Under State Law?Why Are We Giving Students Public Goals for Standardized Assessments?Will More Teachers and Aides Sue Districts Over Student Injuries?

Job Search

Classroom Walkthroughs

Danielson Was Never Intended to Be an Observation Tool Don't Ding Teachers for What You Don't See During a Brief Walkthrough Every Year, Principals Tell Themselves: 'This Is the Year I'll Get into Classrooms Gold Coins for Walkthroughs? No. Just No.Good Feedback Based on 5-10 Minutes of Observation? Only If It's a Conversation How Do You Want Your Formal Observations to Go?Humility and Curiosity Matter More Than Experience for Instructional Leaders Leave Me Alone but Judge Me Fairly — The Paradox of Teacher Evaluation My Book: Now We're Talking New Article: NASSP Published My Latest on Classroom Walkthroughs Short Observations Provide Plenty of Evidence — But Context Matters Should All Teachers Write the Objective on the Board?Should We Abolish Walkthrough Forms?Stop Asking Teachers to Turn in Lesson Plans — Visit Classrooms Instead Stop Making Teachers Turn in Lesson Plans Trust Your Inbox — Get Into Classrooms Visit Every Classroom for National Walkthrough Day Want to Know the 'Why' Behind a Teacher's Practice? Ask 'How' Instead What If Feedback Was Just a Conversation?Why Administrators Give Teachers Such Bad Feedback Why Is It So Important for Instructional Leaders to Get into Classrooms?You Can't Evaluate Someone You've Never Observed

Teacher Evaluation

3 Reasons Traditional Feedback Fails Can Teachers Be Required to Have 'Authentic Relationships' with Students?Charlotte Danielson's Best Book Is About Teacher Growth Through Professional Conversation Danielson Was Never Intended to Be an Observation Tool Do Master's Degrees Really Have a Negative Impact on Student Learning?Don't Ding Teachers for What You Don't See During a Brief Walkthrough Face-to-Face Feedback Is Vastly Superior to Written Feedback How Do You Want Your Formal Observations to Go?How Should Teachers Be Judged If They Work in a Dysfunctional School?Is AI Grading a Good Idea? Not If It Damages the Teacher-Student Relationship Is It Fair to Expect Teachers to Keep Improving Throughout Their Careers?Leave Me Alone but Judge Me Fairly — The Paradox of Teacher Evaluation Short Observations Provide Plenty of Evidence — But Context Matters Should Candidates Teach a Demo Lesson? Here's My Take Should Experienced Teachers Be Evaluated Differently Than New Teachers?Stop Evaluating Teachers Based on Things They Don't Control Teachers Should Be Able to Give the Grades Students Deserve Teachers Should Be Evaluated on Professional Judgment, Not Just Outcomes Value-Added Measurement Failed — And Here's a Fundamental Reason Why Why Are Teacher Evaluations So Bad?You Can't Evaluate Someone You've Never Observed

Student Development

Adult Convenience Is No Excuse for Embarrassing Students Age-Based Grade Levels Are More Important Than People Think Are Kids Really Different Today? Why Might That Be?Constant Cell Phone Notifications Aren't Good for Kids' Developing Brains Do We Really Need Every School Sport to Be Year-Round?Hawthorn College Students Voted to Ban All Wireless Technology on Campus How Much Individualized Math Acceleration Is Too Much?How School Teaches Students Not to Procrastinate How a Teacher Helped a Retained Student Feel Valued I Think We Can Do Better Than School Lunch Is Football Harmful to Kids' Character?Kids Need Recess — Cutting It for More Learning Time Is Counterproductive Kids Need to Experience Minor Setbacks and Disappointments Lunch Money Is Not Something Kids Should Ever Have to Worry About School Lunch Has a Big Drawback: Kids Are Out of School for More Than Half the Year Schools Have No Business Regulating Students' Hair Should Kids Practice Handwriting on an iPad?Should We Provide Mental Health Support to Kids Who Don't Need It?Some Students Simply Need Smaller Classes and Schools Stop Letting Delusional Travel Ball Parents Run Youth Sports We Must Teach Responsibility — Kids Can't Succeed Without It

Edtech

Alpha School's 'AI Instead of Teachers' Model Is Being Overhyped Are Chromebooks as Bad as Cell Phones in the Classroom?BYOD: Bring Your Own Distraction Here's Why I'm Betting on a Return to Low-Tech Learning How Bad Is iReady? Let Me Know What You Think Introducing CAIRO — A New Marketplace for High-Quality Instructional Materials It's Time to Go Back to Paper-and-Pencil Standardized Testing Low Tech Learning 2026 03 19 No, Kids Aren't Learning 10x Faster with AI No, an iPad App Can't Teach Your 2-Year-Old to Read Personalized Learning Isn't Automatically Better Should Kids Practice Handwriting on an iPad?Skepticism Is Our Only Defense Against Marketing Fads in Education Students Do NOT Need Cell Phones to Do Their Schoolwork Students Have to Work Hard to Learn — Technology That Removes the Hard Work Is Lying The Case for Low-Tech Learning What Do You Think of ClassDojo, PBIS Rewards, and Behavior Points Systems?When Do We Blindly Trust Technology?

Announcements

A Conversation with Walsh A Tough but Important Conversation with Laura Stack on the Podcast Announcing the EduLeadership Show Black Friday Admin Job Search Webinar Free Webinar: Feedback Fail — Why Traditional Feedback Falls Flat How Is Restorative Practice Working in Your School? Take the Survey I Spoke with CBS News in Boston About Progressive Discipline in Schools Important New Publication from the US Department of Ed on School Discipline Introducing CAIRO — A New Marketplace for High-Quality Instructional Materials Moving from AP to Principal — in NASSP's Principal Leadership Magazine My New Book: Mapping Professional Practice Is Here My TikTok Shop Is Now Open New Article: NASSP Published My Latest on Classroom Walkthroughs New Resume and Cover Letter Templates New Show: Check Out My Interview with Ms. Sam on FASE Reading Our Cover Letter Generator for Education Leadership Jobs Panel Discussion with Sibme and 3 Inspiring Leaders Signed Copies of Mapping Professional Practice at Learning Forward in Nashville

Humor

A Student Brought Eggs to His Science Teacher — But They Weren't Chicken Eggs Asking People for Their Jeans Pass at the Airport Enjoy This Break, Teachers — How Many Days Left?Ever Surprise a Student by Existing Outside of School?Happy Friday the 13th — Is This Actually a Thing in Schools?Hate Shuffling Cards? Try This Instead Here's How to Get Rid of Hiccups — Works Every Time High School Principal Lets Gen Z Students Write His Campus Tour Script How to Implement Discipline Reform in 6 Easy Steps (Satire)No Back-to-School Stuff in June or July No Coffee in Front of Students? That's Taking 'Modeling' Too Far Time Capsule Time!Try This Photocopier Prank for April Fools' Day Welcome to the Department of EDU-phemisms Well, This Is Awkward...What Should You Do If a Student Says 'My Hand Hurts'?World's Shortest Bloodborne Pathogens Training Your Child Has Been Assigned to the Euphemism Room

Restorative Justice

Science Of Reading

A Bounty Program for Teaching Kids to Read? $20K Would Go a Long Way Balanced Literacy Was Adopted Based on Vibes, Not Evidence Heggerty Doesn't Work? Hold Up — That's the Old Version I Thought We Were Past This — But the Science of Reading Backlash Is Here Illiteracy Is a Policy Choice Intervention Is Underrated as a Key to Early Reading Success Is Phonemic Awareness Instruction a Waste of Time?Leveled Reading Is Intuitive but Misguided Lucy Calkins, Fountas & Pinnell, and Heinemann Are Being Sued by Parents My Intuition Was Wrong: Independent Reading Doesn't Make You a Stronger Reader Reading a Lot Makes You a Better Reader — But Slowly, and It's Not the Best Use of School Time Repeated Reading Is a Great Way to Scaffold Grade-Level Text for Below-Level Readers Science and Social Studies Are Back — Why Did They Disappear from Elementary Schools?Sold a Story Steers Us Away from Pendulum Swings in Episode 10 The Cult of Lucy Calkins Is Our Fault We Know How to Teach All Students to Read — But Is Anyone Actually Doing It?We've Had Reading Comprehension All Wrong

Teacher Appreciation

A Valentine's Gift Idea for Principals to Give Teachers Administrators Are Realizing How Grim It Is to Have Teachers Pay for Their Own Appreciation Gifts Adults Aren't Kids — Teachers Are Professionals Do You Appreciate Little Gifts from Your Principal, or Do They Do More Harm Than Good?Enjoy This Break, Teachers — How Many Days Left?Gold Coins for Walkthroughs? No. Just No.If Jeans Are OK with a Jeans Pass, Teachers Should Be Able to Wear Them All the Time Jeans Passes Are Infantilizing No Back-to-School Stuff in June or July No Need to Brag About What You Do for Teacher Appreciation Week Office Supplies Are Not a Gift Professional Respect Is the Most Important Form of Teacher Appreciation Stop with All the Ultra-Specific Appreciation Days — Just Have One Staff Appreciation Week Teacher Appreciation Starts at the Ballot Box Teachers Are Professionals — Enough with the Jeans Pass Nonsense Translate Into Adult: Teachers Get Food, Not 'Treats What Teachers Really Want for PD Days: Breakfast, Lunch, and Time to Work

Evidence Based Practice

Any New Idea Is Unlikely to Be Better Than the Status Quo Balanced Literacy Was Adopted Based on Vibes, Not Evidence Be Skeptical of People Selling the Exact Opposite of Conventional Wisdom Can We Help Students Become Better Readers by Buying Them Bigger Shoes?Don't Believe People When They Say 'Research Says Education Research Is No Longer About Education — It's About Impressing Other Researchers Groupthink Is Out of Control in Education Math Fact Fluency Matters — Memorization Is Not Old-Fashioned Memorizing Is Learning Opposing Overhyped Fads Is Not the Same as Being Politically Conservative Skepticism Is Our Only Defense Against Marketing Fads in Education The Founder of Conscious Discipline Has 1 Year of Teaching Experience The Status Quo Must Be Carefully Surpassed, Not Disrupted We've Got to Stop Letting Enthusiasm Run Ahead of Evidence When Do We Blindly Trust Technology?When Matthew McConaughey Is Your Education Guru, You End Up with a Mess When Our Identity Is Wrapped Up in an Ineffective Practice, It's Hard to Move On

Attendance

Attendance, Behavior, Cell Phones: The ABCs of Why Teaching Has Gotten So Hard Blame the Teacher When Students Cut Class?Don't Blame Teachers If Nobody Is Making Kids Go to Class How Are Chronic Absenteeism and Graduation Rates Both Going Up?If We Don't Prosecute Truancy, Education Won't Be Truly Compulsory Let's Not Blame Teachers for Chronic Absenteeism New Study: Cell Phone Bans Improve Learning — Largely by Reducing Absenteeism Should Schools Pay Parents to Get Their Kids to School Every Day?Should Students Get Promoted If They Skip Most of the School Year?Sorry, But Makeup Work Doesn't Really Make Up for Missing School The Simplest Explanation for Chronic Absenteeism: Parents Aren't Making Their Kids Go to School Truancy Courts Need to Threaten Parents with Legal Action When Chronically Absent Students Still Graduate — Who Does It Hurt?

Feedback

3 Reasons Traditional Feedback Fails Barbed Facts and Loaded Questions Are Just Passive Aggression Face-to-Face Feedback Is Vastly Superior to Written Feedback Feedback Usually Misses the Mark — Stop Playing Games and Have Real Conversations Free Webinar: Feedback Fail — Why Traditional Feedback Falls Flat Good Feedback Based on 5-10 Minutes of Observation? Only If It's a Conversation Should We Abolish Walkthrough Forms?Want to Know the 'Why' Behind a Teacher's Practice? Ask 'How' Instead What Does Autonomy Mean to You as a Professional?What If Feedback Was Just a Conversation?Why Administrators Give Teachers Such Bad Feedback

Professional Boundaries

A School Is a Professional Workplace, Not a Family — And It's a Red Flag If Someone Calls It One AI-Generated SEL and Mental Health Lesson Plans? First, That's Not Our Wheelhouse Are You Seeing Behavioral and Mental Health Scope Creep in Schools?Boundaries Aren't Based on Good Intentions — They Exist Because We Need Them Can Teachers Be Required to Have 'Authentic Relationships' with Students?Districts Do Illegal Things All the Time — Don't Take Personal Responsibility for It Is Your Employer Entitled to Your Heart? Your Vulnerability?Normalize Saying 'That's Not My Area of Expertise Should Your Boss Say 'I Love You' — Or Is That Weird?Therapeutic Approaches Are Being Tried in English Schools — But Schools Are for Education Therapists, Stop Telling Educators How to Do Their Jobs

Intervention

A Schoolwide RTI Intervention Block Doesn't Make a Lot of Sense Complexity Makes Teaching Harder and Doesn't Save Money How Does Standards-Based Grading Work When Students Are Far Below Grade Level?If Below-Grade-Level Kids Always Get Taught Below Grade Level, When Will They Catch Up?Intervention Is Underrated as a Key to Early Reading Success Is Social Promotion a Good Thing?RTI Misconception: Tier 1 Instruction Won't Close Big Gaps from Previous Years Repeated Reading Is a Great Way to Scaffold Grade-Level Text for Below-Level Readers Should Retention Be Used to Hold Students Accountable?What Do We Do When Students Don't Have Prerequisite Knowledge?Yes, Kids Can Miss an Elective to Get Extra Support in Reading or Math

Inclusion

100% Full Inclusion Is Not a Decision That Should Be Made Outside the IEP Team Create Specialized Programs — Don't Throw 1:1 Aides at Inappropriate Placements Every Student Deserves a FAPE — But That Doesn't Automatically Mean Full Inclusion Inclusion Needs to Be an Option — But Not the Only Option Least Restrictive Environment Doesn't Mean Anything Goes New Brunswick's Premier Says Full Inclusion Isn't Working Some Kids Need Small Classes Tailored to Their Needs Special Education Is a Service, Not a Place — But Sometimes That Service Requires a Specific Place The Evidence for Inclusion May Not Be as Strong as We Thought The Goal of Inclusion Has to Be Supporting Learning, Not Just Physical Placement

Iep

100% Full Inclusion Is Not a Decision That Should Be Made Outside the IEP Team Every Student Deserves a FAPE — But That Doesn't Automatically Mean Full Inclusion How Should We Think About Violence from Students with IEPs?Inclusion Needs to Be an Option — But Not the Only Option Least Restrictive Environment Doesn't Mean Anything Goes No IEP Says 'Tolerate Violence Not All Students Who Struggle with Behavior Need IEPs Safety Matters More Than the IEP The Goal of Inclusion Has to Be Supporting Learning, Not Just Physical Placement The IEP Has to Actually Work

Grade Inflation

12.5% of UCSD Students Need Remedial Math — And the University Had to Add an Even More Basic Level 50 Points as the Minimum Grade for No Work? That's Deception, Not Compassion A 50 and a 0 Are Both F's on the Report Card — But Very Different in the Gradebook Education Is Intended to Be a Gauntlet, Not Just a Credentialing Process How Are Chronic Absenteeism and Graduation Rates Both Going Up?Should Students Fail If They Don't Do Most of Their Work?Should Students Get Promoted If They Skip Most of the School Year?What If Students Get a Diploma but Not an Education?When Chronically Absent Students Still Graduate — Who Does It Hurt?Why Isn't Standards-Based Grading the Solution to Grade Inflation?

Teacher Safety

Abby Zwerner Won $10 Million After Being Shot by a 6-Year-Old Student — But She Probably Won't Collect Abby Zwerner's Lawsuit Can Proceed — Judge Rules It's NOT a Workers' Comp Issue Athletic Director Jemal Murph Will Keep His Job — Good It's Time for Educators to Demand the Right to Refuse Service Sending a Violent Student Right Back to Class Creates a Domestic Violence Dynamic Should the AP in the Abby Zwerner Case Be Criminally Charged?We Need Moral Clarity About Teacher Safety We Need to Expel More Students Who Are Violent Toward Women and Children When a Student Is Violent, Are We Teaching Others That It's Their Fault?Will More Teachers and Aides Sue Districts Over Student Injuries?

School Culture

Climate Surveys Are a Crucial Data Source Graduation Ceremonies Before Senior Year Are Out of Control High School Principal Lets Gen Z Students Write His Campus Tour Script How Administrators Can Learn Students' Names Quickly How a Teacher Helped a Retained Student Feel Valued Is Football Harmful to Kids' Character?School Culture Is About More Than Cheering People Up Teachers Don't Need to 'Earn' Student Respect — They Need to Not Lose It Time Capsule Time!Try This Photocopier Prank for April Fools' Day

School Choice

Can School Choice Put Failing Public Schools Out of Business?Mike Miles Is in Hot Water Again — 40% of Budget Going to Third Future Schools Of Course Private Schools Don't Admit Students with Expensive Special Needs School Choice Doesn't Improve Outcomes — It Divides Students Based on Privilege School Choice Requires Parents to Know What's Going On — That's a Pretty High Bar School Vouchers Will Just Cause Private Schools to Raise Tuition Some Students Are More Expensive to Educate — Private Schools Know This Vouchers Are a Reverse Robin Hood Scheme Why Merit Pay and Vouchers Have Never Worked — And Never Will

District Leadership

Central Office Admin Bloat Is a Real Problem HISD Under Mike Miles Is Assessing Teachers and Students to Death How Do People Get Education Jobs with Unique Titles Like 'Director of Innovation'?Is the HISD Behavior Center Plan Destined to Fail?Mike Miles Is in Hot Water Again — 40% of Budget Going to Third Future Schools The Main Job of Central Office Is to Be Competent, Not Innovative The Micromanagement of Teachers in HISD Is Like Nothing I've Ever Seen There's a Big Difference Between Servant Leaders and Those Who Want to Be Served When Mike Miles' Plan for HISD Fails, He'll Have No One to Blame but Himself

Math Education

12.5% of UCSD Students Need Remedial Math — And the University Had to Add an Even More Basic Level Do Timed Math Tests Cause Anxiety? No — But Dr. Jo Boaler Has Been Claiming They Do How Much Individualized Math Acceleration Is Too Much?If Algebra in Middle School Is Good for My Kid, It's Probably Good for Yours Too Is Calculus in High School Really Just an Access Issue?Math Fact Fluency Matters — Memorization Is Not Old-Fashioned Stanford Won't Investigate Dr. Jo Boaler's Research Misconduct Allegations

College Readiness

12.5% of UCSD Students Need Remedial Math — And the University Had to Add an Even More Basic Level Are Teachers Being Asked to Write More Recommendation Letters Than Ever?Can Schools Actually Engage Students in Effective College and Career Planning?Do We Have a Two-Tier System of High Schools?Hawthorn College Students Voted to Ban All Wireless Technology on Campus Standardized Tests Can Actually Reduce Disparities in College Admissions

Interviewing

Accomplishments Are What Make a Resume Stand Out An Admin Job Interview Might Not Feel Like a Competition — But It Is Applying for a Job Isn't Like Applying for a Driver's License — It's Competitive How to Prepare for a Principal or AP Job Interview How to Prepare for a Virtual Screening Interview The Overconfident Guy in a Principal Interview

Extracurriculars

Band Director Tased Over a Postgame Performance — There Are Lots of Layers to This One Do We Really Need Every School Sport to Be Year-Round?Has High School Athletics Been Captured by High-Income Families?Is Football Harmful to Kids' Character?Stop Letting Delusional Travel Ball Parents Run Youth Sports Travel Teams Are Bad for High School Sports — Time to Ban Them

Off Topic

3 Signs You're Suffering from Inflammation — And One Sign You're Talking to a Quack Hate Shuffling Cards? Try This Instead Here's How to Get Rid of Hiccups — Works Every Time Quite the Light Show — Fireflies!We Are Exactly 5 Years Away from 10/20/30 — How Is That Possible?

School Stories

A Student Brought Eggs to His Science Teacher — But They Weren't Chicken Eggs Ever Surprise a Student by Existing Outside of School?Happy Friday the 13th — Is This Actually a Thing in Schools?How a Teacher Helped a Retained Student Feel Valued Well, This Is Awkward...

Ai In Education

AI-Generated SEL and Mental Health Lesson Plans? First, That's Not Our Wheelhouse Alpha School's 'AI Instead of Teachers' Model Is Being Overhyped Don't Make This Mistake If You're Using AI to Write Your Cover Letter Is AI Grading a Good Idea? Not If It Damages the Teacher-Student Relationship No, Kids Aren't Learning 10x Faster with AI

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Alone Can't Protect Students Against Misinformation Critical Thinking Is Domain-Specific and Can't Be Taught in the Abstract Knowledge Deserves More Credit — Skills Instruction Is Overrated Knowledge Isn't Dirt in the Way of Deeper Learning — It's the Foundation Learning How to Learn Is No Substitute for Actual Knowledge

Hiring

How Is Hiring Competitive If There Are So Many Vacancies?Late Hiring in Hard-to-Fill Areas Should Candidates Teach a Demo Lesson? Here's My Take Teacher Job Posting: We'll Treat You with Respect and Back You Up on Discipline Why Is It So Hard to Get Subs?

Books

My Book: Now We're Talking My New Book: Mapping Professional Practice Is Here My TikTok Shop Is Now Open Rosenshine's Principles in Action Is a Book Every Educator Should Read Signed Copies of Mapping Professional Practice at Learning Forward in Nashville

International Education

New Brunswick's Premier Says Full Inclusion Isn't Working New Zealand's Student Cell Phone Ban Takes Full Effect Today Scotland Is Learning the Hard Way That Restorative Practices Are No Substitute for Rules Scottish Educators Are in Denial That Some Schools Have No Consequences — So Let's Name Names Therapeutic Approaches Are Being Tried in English Schools — But Schools Are for Education

Bullying

$27 Million Settlement in Bullying Lawsuit — And What It Means for Schools Bullying-Related Lawsuits May Be What Finally Ends Restorative-Only Discipline Cyberbullying Isn't Usually True Bullying — But Social Media Is Still a Problem Schools Need to Take Bullying Seriously — But It's Tricky

Podcast

A Conversation with Walsh A Tough but Important Conversation with Laura Stack on the Podcast Sold a Story Steers Us Away from Pendulum Swings in Episode 10

Teacher Autonomy

A Lesson Plan Template Written for a Different Subject Is Usually a Waste of Time Autonomy Should Give You Freedom to Do Your Job — Not Freedom to Harm Others What Does Autonomy Mean to You as a Professional?

Rti

A Schoolwide RTI Intervention Block Doesn't Make a Lot of Sense RTI Misconception: Tier 1 Instruction Won't Close Big Gaps from Previous Years RTI for Behavior Shouldn't Mean Students Can't Get in Trouble Until After Extensive Intervention

Accommodations

Accommodations for Anxiety Are Often Counterproductive Will This Accommodation Actually Increase Your Learning?Yes, College Students Are Faking Disabilities for Academic Advantages

Teacher Unions

AFT Is Trying to Get Educators to Be 'Mandatory Supporters' Instead of Mandatory Reporters — No What If We Treated Everyone as If They Had a Union Backing Them Up?

Autism

100% Full Inclusion Is Not a Decision That Should Be Made Outside the IEP Team

Administrator Liability

$27 Million Settlement in Bullying Lawsuit — And What It Means for Schools

Health

3 Signs You're Suffering from Inflammation — And One Sign You're Talking to a Quack

Misinformation

3 Signs You're Suffering from Inflammation — And One Sign You're Talking to a Quack

Content Analysis

Low Tech Learning 2026 03 19

Low Tech

Low Tech Learning 2026 03 19

Teaching Tips

A Classroom Teardown Tip I Came Across Today

Lesson Planning

A Lesson Plan Template Written for a Different Subject Is Usually a Waste of Time

Animals On Campus

A Student Brought Eggs to His Science Teacher — But They Weren't Chicken Eggs

Teacher Leadership

Administrators Shouldn't Make All the Decisions — We Don't Have the Bandwidth

Child Safety

AFT Is Trying to Get Educators to Be 'Mandatory Supporters' Instead of Mandatory Reporters — No

Mandatory Reporting

AFT Is Trying to Get Educators to Be 'Mandatory Supporters' Instead of Mandatory Reporters — No

School Governance

Brockton Teachers and Students Testify Before the Board Over Safety Problems

Media Literacy

Critical Thinking Alone Can't Protect Students Against Misinformation

Tribute

Harry Wong Has Passed — How Did He Impact Your Career?

Phonics

Is Phonemic Awareness Instruction a Waste of Time?

Nature

Quite the Light Show — Fireflies!